


From Fire to Earth

by mcdn11



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbender Ty Lee (Avatar), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar Azula (Avatar), Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula (Avatar)-centric, F/F, F/M, Fire Nation (Avatar), Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Season 1 Zuko is horrible, Stuff from cannon don’t happen, Ursa was not that good of a mother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26330356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcdn11/pseuds/mcdn11
Summary: Princess Azula was the favored daughter of Prince Ozai. But one day, when Fire Lord Azulon asked the unthinkable, the princess didn't think twice about running away. She journeyed through the Earth Kingdom, watching the reality of the war. But something more important is discovered.As it turns out, Azula isn't who she thinks she is.Azula is a little OOC
Comments: 34
Kudos: 133





	1. The Avatar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula runs away from home

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Some were stable, some where not, but nonetheless they all lived in peace with their differences. In order to cease the inequality, Fire Lord Sozin put himself the mission of bringing equality to all the nations. If all nations lived under the command of the Fire Nation, then their lives would be improved.

Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop the Fire Nation, but when the time came, he vanished. 100 years have passed and no sighting of the Avatar has been reported. Some say that after Avatar Roku, the Avatar cycle seized, that a new Avatar was never born into the Air Nomads. And so, with the only person able to stop the advancement of the world gone, the Fire Nation is sure to win the war and bring peace to all corners of the world.

That was what the teachers had taught her in the Fire Nation Royal Academy for girls. Years and years of indoctrination were sure to leave its mark on the young princess. Between her school and being told every day at the palace that the Fire Nation must win the war at all costs, the nine year old was sure to believe everything. It wasn't until she had been forced to flee the palace that she saw the destruction of the world first hand. She still thought that the Fire Nation was better than the Earth Kingdom by far, but the citizens of the kingdom didn't look up to the Fire Nation, they all feared it.

She still remembered the first year outside of the Fire Nation. She had been nine years old, fresh from the palace with no clue where to go. All she knew was that the Fire Lord had asked for her death because her father wanted more power. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Ozai would indeed commit such atrocity. Even if she was the favored child, he would not hesitate to take her down if it meant a shot at the throne. The day she found out was the day she left. She did not bid goodbye to her family nor did she leave a note. As of that day, the princess would be though of as dead in all the fire nation.

A child prodigy, a fire bender, walking in the Earth Kingdom with no valuable resources except the "no freezing to death during the nights" perk. It was a very compromising position, but it bested being killed by her own father. To this day it still hurt to think about. She had been nothing but the splitting image of her father, following his steps and mannerisms. She could admit that she was cold, especially when it concerned the death of her cousin Lu Ten, but it was all fine during her time at the palace. Sure, her mother thought she was a monster, but she was her father's pride and joy.

But what did being his pride and joy matter when he paid no second thought on her demise?

After exiting the palace from one of the secret tunnels, the fire bending princess ran to the harbor of Caldera City, where she could effectively get into a boat without any crew members finding out. There she spent six days, eating only the spare moshi she brought from her home and drinking her own urine. Never in a million years was a princess supposed to sink so low, but at that moment, survival was more important than pride.

The boat stopped on a small port with many military boats. The navy boats didn't seem too big, only big enough to transport the army soldiers to Earth Kingdom territory. Normally the young princess would've loved to see the Earth Kingdom being brought to its knees, but at that moment all she wanted to do was get away from the army. If one of them was able to recognize her, they would send her back home and she would get killed.

That's when she took the hard decision of taking her crown off and putting it on her bag. It does not sound as much, but at that moment the princess realized that she was no longer a princess. Her blood may be of royal lineage, but from that moment on she would have to live in exile and as a commoner. Her pride had been wounded beyond repair.

For the first year, the princess wondered around the Earth Kingdom, seeing the devastation her countrymen were bringing to the desolate lands. Poor villages were being raided off their resources, some where abandoned in fear of the Fire Nation, and others were burned to the ground. It was a weird feeling what the princess felt. She initially felt pride, pride in her nation doing what Fire Lord Sozin had envisioned. At this rate, the Earth Kingdom would fall and the Fire Nation would rule all.

But what good would it be to rule all if it was all ashes? A good leader should inspire, and it was evident that the fear she once thought to be the only way was not effective. The Earth Kingdom would not fall behind the Fire Nation if the atrocities continued. No, they would only fight harder.

It was made evident that the only way that the only way for the Fire Nation to bring prosperity to all the world, as Fire Lord Sozin had envisioned, a new approach needed to be tried. This war, even if it was being won, it was not bringing peace or equality to the world. The princess knew then, at the prime age of nine, what her destiny was.

She was supposed to make Fire Lord Sozin dream come true. The world would be in peace and equality, everybody around the world would live just as happy and proud as her Fire Nation countrymen. It would take a long time, she knew that, but with her sharp mind and focus, the young princess knew that she was going to be able to do it. After all, there was nobody else who would be able to do it. Her father was a bloodthirsty man who taught her that fear was the only reliable way, her grandfather was old and also bloodthirsty, Uncle Iroh was a coward with an unnatural addiction to tea, and her brother Zuko was an idiot. No, she was the only one in the whole world who was able to bring peace and equality.

On her second year outside of the palace, the Fire Nation princess kept walking and wondering around the Earth Kingdom. Sometimes she would enter a small village and work in exchange for food, money, or shelter. The jobs weren't very hard to do, but the villagers always gave her pity. Once upon a time she would've hated being looked down upon on, but after a year alone with no idea where to go, the princess began to realize that sometimes pity could be helpful. In fact, it could be a weapon. If the people pitied her a lot, they would give her lots of stuff, only for her to disappear the following day.

The longest she stayed at a village was around a month. Some people, especially veterans from the war, threw wary glances at her, but the young child grew accustomed to them. She knew she looked very Fire Nation, after all, she was literally the image of what her people were supposed to look like. It gave her a sense of warmth to know that even though she was living in the Earth Kingdom, her own body was a reminder of her heritage. Her physical appearance screamed her bloodline, and her bending was a clear indicator of where she came from. Even if her crown was no longer on her head, her identity would stay with her.

On the third year of being unofficially exiled, the princess grew tired of doing nothing in the Earth Kingdom. She decided to go visit the air temples and see the remnants of the great battles between the Fire Nation and the now extinct Air Nomads. At eleven years old, the princess thought herself enough fire bending to fend against any rogue air benders (if any).

While on her journey to the Southern Air temple, which was the closest to where she was at, she found a strange egg. It was golden, but clearly not gold. When her hands engulfed the egg, the organism inside seemed to shake a little. It gave the sense of heat and comfort, something the princess hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. She did not know if her mother had held her close when she was a mere baby, but as long as she could remember, Ursa was always with Zuko while she was alone or with her father, who was not the warmest person in the world.

The princess continued her journey, her bag on her shoulder and the egg on her arms. Every now and then the fire bender would warm her hands in order to comfort the small organism, whatever it was.

It was hard to arrive at the Southern Air Temple. For some reason, the Air Nomads really liked the idea of being in the air. The temple was above the clouds, not visible from the land. The princess really had no evidence that the Air Temple was there, but she had a feeling it was important to get up. Something important awaited her there. Plus, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

Once she was able to climb some very steep rocks (with her egg on her bag of course), the trail to the temple was clear to any visitor. There were many weeds, but no animals around. It was abandoned, but that was expected after such long battles took place here.

However, it was of great surprise for Azula to see the Air Temple simply abandoned. There was nothing missing, no signs of battle as the books had described it. She expected to see at least a hundred ancient Fire Nation and Air Nomad army armor laying around. Yet the most she found was a single helmet lying on the ground.

The princess stood in the middle of the temple, simply breathing the cold air, closing her eyes and taking in everything. For some reason she expected to hear children laughing, teenagers hanging around, elder monks walking together and laughing at some joke. Yet, when she opened her eyes, it was all empty.

"Don't worry, some of them got away before the Fire Nation attacked." A voice said besides the princess.

She turned around a came face to face with a small monk, around her heights or so, with blue arrow tattoos. He had large grey eyes, similar to those of Ty Lee, and a round face...just like her.

"Who are you?" The fire bender asked

"I'm Aang, your past life. Well, one of your past lives."

The fire bender raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'll believe you? Go and play wherever the rest of you Air Nomads are hiding."

"I'm not kidding. I died in this place 97 years ago. The Fire Nation attacked during Sozin's comet and killed us all. I tried to fend them off, but I failed my people. There were so many of them and so few of us, we never stood a chance. I mean, even with the Avatar we couldn't win."

"What do you mean so few of you? The Fire Nation fought against the Army of the Air Nomads."

The bald monk, Aang's eyebrows furrowed.

"We didn't have an army. It was ambush."

"Yeah, like I'll believe that."

"Look at me." the Airbender commanded. The princess met his eyes and saw sorrow in them, deep regret. "There were no battles. It was genocide. Just look at the evidence around you, wouldn't there be many more armors laying around if it wasn't?"

The princess turned to look at her surroundings a second time. She had noticed the weird absence of cadavers laying on the floor, but now that she analyzed, it was simply too weird. There were supposed to be many more bodies laying around.

"Ok, say I believe you." the princess turned to look at the monk once again. "It still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"This is going to be hard to explain, so I'll go slowly."

"There's no need. I pick up fast."

"Alright then. This is a sacred place because it's where I lived all my life, as well as where I died. There are certain places you can go, Crescent Island for example, where you can summon your past lives when you need guidance. I know that right now you think that you are in no need of guidance and that I'm just a scam, and I know it's hard to believe, but trust me this is no scam. Thing is, because there are no air nomad alive, that we know about, there's nobody to teach you air bending. So, my plan was for us to stay here for a couple of years until you master air bending and then you can go wherever you want to go."

The princess stared at the boy trying to find any trace of a joke.

"That would be splendid, except for the fact that I don't bend air. I bend fire, the superior element."

Aang scratched the back of his neck. "Oh right, I didn't tell you."

"Didn't tell me what?"

"You're the Avatar. Well, we're the Avatar. Probably should've led up with that..."

The Fire Nation princess stared at the boy with wide eyes.

"I am most certainly not the Avatar. I am the princess of the Fire Nation. The Avatar is a traitor to his country, and I am no traitor."

"You may try to convince yourself that, but deep inside you know the truth. It's not imperative for you to know air bending right now, but I do wish to start your training as soon as possible. You may stay in any room you like, there's nobody to tell you no. The food is basically the fruit you see on the trees, and maybe later I can teach you how to make fruit pies." Aang said

The fire bender blinked. "I'll stay here. Not because I believe you, but because I want to rest somewhere where I don't have to work for a roof."

The next day, however, the princess commenced her air bending training. At first she didn't believe a word Aang said, but after some meditating and actually listening to his message, the fire bender began to show promise. It wasn't long before she could actually air bend, even just a little air, but it was an improvement.

Aang showed her the Air Nomad culture, so that one day she could teach others in case there were some rogue Air Benders somewhere in the world. He taught her their history, how to make their clothes, how to make their foods, and even some lingo. The princess wasn't very interested at first, as she thought it was just an inferior culture not worthy of her time, but as time passed, she became more intrigued. It was weird how different their life was from the fire nation, especially their diet.

Around two weeks later, the egg began to hatch. The princess watched as a scaly blue organism hatched from the egg. It had small wings, and as soon as his eyes met the princess's, she knew that they were meant to be together.

"Fudo. That shall be your name. From now on, you and I will be a team, inseparable."

That was how the princess of the Fire Nation got the last dragon. As the princess grew in the Air Temple, Fudo grew with her. In just a matter of months, he was already bigger than the princess and able to be ridden by her.

It took the princess three years to master air bending. During those three years she began to wear Air Nomad clothing (as it was the only thing that she actually knew how to make as she grew out of her old clothes). Apart from her clothes, the Fire Nation princess kept her hairstyle intact. Her crown was still not worn, it was kept on her bag, collecting dust until the day the princess returned to the homeland.

At the age of fourteen, five years after fleeing from her home, the princess took off to continue on her Avatar journey. It was still a hard concept to grasp. She, who was always loyal to her nation first and herself second, was now supposed to defeat it. Yes, she wanted to bring peace to the world, but she hoped to do it some other way, not having to fight her fellow country men. Perhaps she could usurp the throne in one way. By now Uncle Iroh was probably Fire Lord, so she only had to challenge him to an Agni Kai and beg to the Spirits that the coward would accept.

Riding Fudo, the princess made her way south towards the pole. It was common knowledge that the Southern Water Tribe did not have water benders anymore after all the raids her great-grandfather and grandfather ordered, but it didn't hurt to try. Worst case scenario, she could make her way to the North Pole instead.

It took a day for the princess to arrive at the South Pole. She had never experienced such cold temperatures, but she was able to manage using air bending. Still, it was incredible how stupid a civilization could be in order to decide to make a life in a frozen wasteland. The avatar flew on Fudo for a while until she saw two figures at the distance on a canoe. She saw how they got caught on some sort of current, their boat getting between two ice blocks and being destroyed.

"Well, at least it's people, even if they're idiots." The princess told herself, motioning for Fudo to fly towards the pair.

"...most sexist, immature-" the princess heard a girl yell.

"Uh, Katara.." the boy seemed to reply

Out of nowhere, the block of ice that stood between the princess and the pair broke in half, much to the Avatar's delight. It seemed as the trip down south had been the right move.

In front of the princess were two people, both with the same dark skin, brown hair and blue eyes. They wore blue clothing, leaving no doubt what their ethnicity was.

"Good morning both of you. I am in need of a water bender, but I would love to visit your village to show my good will." the Avatar said with a bow

"Katara, are you seeing a weird girl with a dragon or am I having midnight sun madness?" the boy said

"Umm, hey? Why do you need a water bender?" the girl, Katara, asked

"I would much rather talk under some kind of roof or somewhere where it isn't so cold. I swear on my honor that I will not harm you during my stay." the princess said

"Oh yeah, honor, because that means so much." the boy said rolling his eyes

"It may not mean much to you savage, but it does mean a lot from where I come from." the princess sneered

"We will give you a roof if you give us a ride to the village. Our boat has been broken because of someone," she stole a glance at the boy, "so we need a mode of transportation back."

"Then no problem. Fudo wouldn't mind having two extra passengers, so you can both come with me."

"What?! We don't even know her and we're going on a ride on a dragon!?" the boy yelled

"Sokka, you're welcome to stay here and go back on your own, but I'm going on the free ride,"

"Ugh, fine."

The pair mounted the dragon, grabbing onto its saddle with great strength.

"One of you must tell me which direction the village is located at,"

"Just keep going that way, it's straight ahead." Katara said pointing ahead

The princess nodded her head, looking straight with her back straight.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

The princess stiffened for a moment before relaxing. It had been years since she had told someone her name, but for some reason she knew that she could trust these two individuals (no matter how strange or stupid they seemed).

"Azula. My name is Azula."


	2. The South Pole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula visits the Water Tribe village with the strange pair she met in the South Pole.

The trio arrived at the small village with the sun still up. Of course, being summer in the South Pole meant that the sun was up all day every day.

Fudo descended from the sky and landed on a piece of ice very close to the actual village. His body was freezing, the fact that he could breathe fire being the only thing keeping him alive. Azula patted his head and murmured some small words of comfort to the dragon, giving him the love that was reserved to only him.

"The village is that way. Come on, let us show you." The waterbender said motioning with her hand for Azula to follow her.

"Very well. There we shall speak about my reasons for the need of a water bender." Azula said in a serious voice

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't dragons from the Fire Nation? Why do you have one if you're an air nomad?" The boy, Sokka, asked.

Azula began following the pair. "I found an egg during my journey outside the temple. Fudo was born in the Southern Air Temple, so he is an honorary Air Nomad dragon citizen."

The princess was already very tired from her journey. She hadn't slept in a whole day, and the cold was giving a tiring effect. Every step she took felt like her last one before falling asleep or unconscious. She was apprehensive to follow the pair to their village, yet she knew that it was the only option she had if she wanted to learn water bending. After all, if there was one waterbender in the middle of nowhere, then there certainly must be several in a village.

The village was not what Azula expected. She thought that there would be at least one respectable building, a town center perhaps, but this village was more underdeveloped than the poorest of the Earth Kingdom villages she visited. They did have a small bonfire in the middle, but the fire was almost dead and nobody around seemed eager to keep it alive. Pathetic. There were perhaps around twenty huts made out of ice blocks, about three tents, and some women and children working on chores. Surrounding the village was an ice or snow wall, perhaps to keep attackers out.

The princess tried not to grimace at the sight of such a place to live, but there was just so much she could do. She pressed her lips together to avoid saying anything she certainly meant but would seem rather rude. If she wanted to learn water bending, she needed to be at least cordial to the villagers.

"Gran gran!" Katara yelled at an old woman, who turned around with a passive face.

"Katara, Sokka, were you able to fish anything?" the woman asked

The pair looked at each other in slight discomfort.

"We weren't able to. Our boat was kind of destroyed." Sokka replied sheepishly

"But we found someone very interesting. It's an air nomad!" Katara said excitedly

Azula took this as her queue to step forward and introduce herself. The princess bowed in the traditional Air Nomad fashion, with her fist on the palm of her hand instead of beneath as it was done in the homeland.

"Greetings, my name is Azula. As Katara said, I am an Airbender and am in the look for a waterbender. I know you may be wary of foreigners, but I swear on my honor to explain everything with great detail."

The old woman looked at Azula up and down, frowning when she looked at her face.

"Forgive me if I'm rude, but we had believed the Air Nomads were extinct after the Fire Nation attacked the temples."

Azula nodded her head. "Yes, I believed that too. But upon arriving on the Southern Air Temple, I found out that I was an Airbender. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true nonetheless."

The water tribe woman looked at her once more, before nodding and walking towards one of the ice-block houses.

"Come on, this is our igloo." Katara walked in the same direction

The princess of the Fire Nation made a slight face of disgust before going after the girl. Inside the igloo were animal pelts all around, some weapons, and many blankets. It was barbaric, to say the least, but the princess had to be grateful for being here instead of freezing to death.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me. If it's not too much to ask, may I rest some moments before answering all your questions? I haven't slept since my time at the Southern Air Temple."

"Of course. Once you wake up we will ask our questions." the old woman replied

"Thank you," Azula said, laying down and grabbing some blankets to cover her from the cold air surrounding her. Yes, the inside of the igloo was much warmer than outside, but it was still unnaturally cold, and Azula was still a Fire Nation citizen. Despite what she wanted, her body still ached the hot and humid air from back home.

Azula woke up seven hours later with her back aching and her bones hurting.

"Even the beds in the air temple were more comfortable" she grumbled to herself. Her spinal cord cracked as she stretched herself, relieving herself from the tension she had been building up during her journey.

The Avatar looked around the igloo. There was nobody around with whom to engage conversation, so she decided to get up and try to find her acquaintances in the village. After all, the village was quite small so finding them couldn't be that hard.

As she stepped outside, she came face to face with Katara, the water bender.

"You're up!" she said happily

"Indeed. Thank you for your hospitality." Azula thanked the water tribe girl.

"It was no problem. Come on, I have to introduce you to the village."

The girl grabbed Azula's hand and led her what must've been around ten steps. The princess at first recoiled from the touch. It had been years since she last had physical contact with somebody. It seemed to be a common thing in the Water Tribes, however, seeing as how Katara didn't think twice about grabbing her hand.

"Azula, this is the entire village. Entire village, Azula." Katara introduced the firebender to the village. Azula looked warily at the villagers, noticing how there were only women and children present. The youngest child looked around two years old while the oldest must've been either Katara or Sokka.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Azula said bowing. The villagers all looked weirdly at her as if they were trying to figure out a complot of the princess.

"Let's get back inside so we can ask you questions. I know Sokka will interrogate you as if you were Fire Nation, so don't be bothered so much about it. He's an idiot."

Azula grinned. "Yes, he does certainly looks like an idiot. How long have you two been together?"

Katara stopped short as soon as those words came out of Azula's mouth. The waterbender turned around to face the princess with her face was full of disgust.

"Sokka's my brother..."

"Oh. I apologize then." Azula suddenly felt uncomfortable. She remembered Zuko the weak vividly, and the thought of someone asking if they were together was enough to make her nauseous.

The two teens entered the igloo and sat down on the floor close to the center. They waited in silence for Sokka and the old woman, who Azula now assumed to be their grandmother, to arrive. It didn't take them more than five minutes for both of them to enter the igloo and sit down to commence the questioning.

Sitting down at a bearable temperature with plenty of rest, the princess of the Fire Nation could now see the similarities between the two teens. Despite the obvious hair, eye, and skin color, their overall facial structure was quite similar. Their chin were both somewhat pointy at the end, and their eyebrows were at the same distance from their eyes. In retrospect, it had been quite foolish of Azula to mistake the siblings for lovers.

"Would any of you like to start the line of questioning?" Azula asked the family

"Yes, I'd like to start. Why do you need a waterbender?" Sokka inquired

The Fire Nation princess knew that she needed to tell these people who she was sooner or later, but as of now, she didn't fully trust them. Of course, once she had a waterbender to teach her waterbending, she needed to tell that person that she was the Avatar, but if these people did not end up helping her, then her secret would be out into the world. If she wanted to bring peace and balance into the world, then the Fire Nation needed to remain in the shadows about her identity. If word got out that Azula was alive, who knows if they would kill her back at the homeland. If they found out that she was the Avatar, then there would be no doubt what her fate would be.

Her goal was not to destroy the Fire Nation, not at all. Azula was one of the most nationalistic people in the whole world, and she knew that her nation was superior to all others in both culture and technology. However, she still wanted to put an end to the war, and this meant going against the Fire Lord's agenda.

"I know this may sound extreme, but I plan to put an end to this war."

Sokka scoffed. "We all do. That still doesn't answer my question."

"Of course, my apologies. You see, this war has been going for a hundred years simply because the other nations do not know how to fight the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation has better technology, a better trained and more organized army, many benders, and many resources. If we try to fight them head-on, we will lose the war, especially with Sozin's comet coming this summer." Azula explained.

"If what you're saying is true, then there is no way we can win this war," Katara said frightened

"That's not true. I said that we would not stand a chance if we face them head-on. However, we can use propaganda and manipulation to our advantage. We weaken the Fire Nation from the inside."

"That sounds ok, but where do the waterbenders come in?"

"Ah, you see, to weaken the Fire Nation, we must weaken the Fire Lord's image. Fire Lord Sozin was known for his many victories, but mainly for bringing the extinction of the airbenders, which we can see that is not the case. Fire Lord Azulon was known for bringing the Southern Water Tribe to its knees by getting rid of all the waterbenders. Again, we can see how that is not the case because Katara is a waterbender from the South Pole. The great image of the Fire Lords is supposed to be sacred in the Fire Nation, but we can taint them. The current Fire Lord is either Iroh, who lost the Siege of Ba Sing Se, or Ozai, who has not had any military career or experience. Either way, we can destroy their morale, and when the Fire Nation is losing the battle with its people, we can end this war with much less bloodshed than necessary." Azula explained. Of course, this was not her original plan. Her real plan consisted of learning the remaining two elements and destroying her father before Sozin's comet arrived...but this was a great plan B.

The family of water tribesmen was seemingly in shock. The first to recover was the boy.

"That sounds idealistic. Are you sure it would work?"

"It's either that or we lose the war."

"What do you want to do with Katara?" the grandmother asked

"I want her to come with me to the Air Temple, where we will plan this very thoroughly," Azula replied

"We must think about it first." the old woman said

"What?! But Gran gran, this is my opportunity to use my waterbending for good, not to hide here for all my life." Katara said in outrage

"Katara, you're very young. You have your duties here. It's not a definite no yet, but we must talk about it as a family." Gran gran, who still remained nameless, said the last pat turning to Azula.

"I understand. Please take your time," she said standing up and heading out.

The women were mostly doing their chores (cooking, washing clothes, etc.) while the children played with Fudo, who for some reason had made his way to the village. Azula frowned at the sight of children playing around a fire-breathing and very dangerous being.

"Hello there." Azula tried to say as kindly as possible, which came out very forced and creepy.

The children turned around to face her with bright faces.

"Hey! Do you want to play with us?" a little boy asked

"I'm actually going on a walk, but I just wanted to see how you children were baring with my dragon. Is he behaving himself?"

"Yes! He's really fun to play with! What's his name?" another little boy asked

"Fudo. Be careful playing with him, you don't want to end up without any eyebrows because of his fire." Azula joked. She didn't know if it was a good joke or not, but the little kids kept smiling so she took it as a good sign.

"We won't! Thank you, Azula!"

The firebender nodded and continued to walk towards the seemingly endless white snow path. There wasn't a certain destination in mind, she simply wanted to explore the icy land.

Azula must've walked for half an hour, wandering in the frozen landscape, when she suddenly found herself in the sight of a Fire Nation ship. However, this ship abandoned, with some ice encasing its exterior. It didn't look like the modern ships the Fire Nation Navy used nowadays, that ship must've been at least 60 years old.

Walking slowly and with precaution, the princess made her way to the inside of the ship. It seemed to be almost abandoned, no trace of firebenders ever being here or a fight even breaking out. The metal was the same kind they used in modern warships, which reminded Azula of her time hiding on the ship escaping the capital. Those were dark times, times in which Azula had no water and so she had to resort to the most extreme resource a princess should have. She remembered sweating during the day and night, but afraid of losing her clothes in case someone came in her hiding spot. The days didn't seem to pass, the voices from the sailors being the only human voices she heard for days.

Distracted by her memories, the firebender tripped into some sort of wire, which accidentally made some flare go off.

"Well my luck had to run out sometime," Azula muttered to herself. While living at the palace, the princess would've most likely made fun of someone reckless enough to fall for a booby trap. How the tables had turned.

The Avatar exited the Fire Nation cruiser by jumping to an open space on the roof of the ship. She used a little bit of airbending in order to make a safe landing onto the snow, which was greatly appreciated. She doubted that the tribe had enough knowledge to treat wounds. And even if they had, she didn't want savages touching her in any way. Katara grabbing her hand before had been strange and an episode she did not want to be repeated any time soon.

She did not think the flare to be such a big deal. But much was her surprise when the princess arrived at the village and all the villagers were glaring at her as if she had just killed their national animal.

"What happened?" Azula asked confused

"You sent a message to the Fire Nation! I knew we couldn't trust foreigners." Sokka exclaimed

"Oh, you mean the flare? I kind of stumbled upon a boobby trap on a Fire Nation cruiser. It's really not that serious." Azula said nonchalantly

"Not that big a deal?! We can get attacked now! Just, get out of our village." Sokka said

Azula blinked.

"I don't understand, I'm on your side of the war." Azula was confused. How can they just tell her to leave when they needed her to win the war?

"You have brought danger to our tribe. We understand that it was not your intention, but we must think about the wellbeing of our children." the grandmother said diplomatically

Azula scoffed. "Fine, you will all just rot and the Fire Nation will win this war. See if I care when you are all turned into ashes."

The Fire Nation Princess was beyond angry. She had finally settled on a plan, a flawless plan, in which she would bring peace and balance to the world, but now these savages had the audacity to not aid her.

She walked towards Fudo and mounted the dragon. With one last look of distaste at the tribe, the princess and the dragon flew away from the Water Tribe village.

"What good are savages if you can't use them? I should've made them fear me, then at least they would've helped me. But no, I have to do things in a nice and diplomatic way. Ugh, I'm both the most suited person to be the Avatar and the least suited person to be it." Azula talked to herself

Her plan needed to be modified. Now she needed to go to the Northern Water tribe, try to persuade them so she can learn waterbending, then go to the Earth Kingdom and find some master somewhere, and then finally defeat the Fire Lord. It wasn't that difficult of a plan, it was straightforward after all, but for some reason she despised it. Azula wanted to be in the presence of people, even if they were inferior. Having spent three years in the Air Temple with only a dead monk who never aged had taken a toll on the princess's social skills.

Riding Fudo out of the South Pole, Azula noticed a somewhat small Fire Nation ship making its way towards the village. She was tempted to simply ignore the ship, after all, the tribe had turned its back on her, but she was better than them. She was a princess with honor, and that meant that she had to go help those in need.

"I hate being on the good side. It feels so unnatural." Azula said as she motioned Fudo to turn around and help the tribe.

The Fire Nation ship was getting bigger the closer she got to the tribe.

"Fudo, land somewhere outside the village. I don't want the firebenders to see you." Azula told her dragon as they approached the settlement. Fudo landed close enough for Azula to be able to reach the village quickly, but far enough so that the Fire nation could not spot him. "Stay here Fudo, I'll come back."

Azula ran towards the tribe, where she saw a sight that brought her blood to freeze momentarily. The Fire Nation leader had a huge scar on his face, most likely due to a burn. His eyes looked some sort of golden from where she stood, which was quite a rare color. Only members of the Royal Family had golden eyes, yet nobody in the royal family was supposed to bear such a mark on his face.

"I'll ask again, where is the Avatar?" The villagers didn't reply, they all stood there petrified. The Fire Nation teen grumbled and took Sokka and Katara's grandmother by her coat.

"Gran gran!" Katara yelled

The Fire Nation teen ignored her. "He's supposed to be an Air Nomad, around this age, master of all elements. Where is he?! I know you're hiding him!"

Azula knew he was looking for her, and all her instincts told her to simply let him destroy the village. But she came back to avoid that, so what would be the point of

being there if she was going to run away. Besides, running away is a coward move, and she was not a coward. She was not his Royal Tea Loving Kookiness.

"Hello, I think you're looking for me," Azula said stepping out of the shadows.

The Fire Nation teen looked at Azula and froze. His eyes darted between her clothes and her hairstyle before landing on her eyes.

"A-Az-Azula?" The Fire Nation teen stuttered

Azula's eyes narrowed. Just how did he know her name?

"In my country, we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions," Azula smirked

"What are you-how are you-you're alive?"

"You know him?!" Katara asked Azula

The princess of the Fire Nation narrowed her eyes. The teen looked very familiar, yet she could not place him. Maybe if the scar wasn't there she would've been able to recognize him, but as they stood then and there, she could not identify him.

"I don't remember this vermin," Azula said

"My name is Prince Zuko. Son of Fire Lord Ozai." The prince declared.

Azula's eyes widened for two reasons. First of all, this teen standing in front of her with half of his face melted off was her brother Zuko. Second, her father was now the Fire Lord. It seems that he told Fire Lord Azulon that he had killed her, his daughter, and Azulon revoked Iroh's birthright.

"Well, Zuzu, it has been too long, hasn't it? What has happened back home? Of course, despite the fact that you somehow managed to burn half of your face." Azula mocked her brother. It had been too long since she had done that, and truth to be told, she quite enjoyed it.

"What are you doing here Azula? Why are you wearing Air Nomad clothes?" Zuko asked

"It has been five years since you've seen me and that's the first thing you ask? You're hurting my feelings."

Zuko's face turned bright red. "Stop playing games Azula! I know the Avatar is here. Now, where is he?"

"Are you certain that the Avatar is a he? I knew that men from the Water Tribes were quite sexist, but I never pictured you as someone who also believed those backward ideologies." Azula smirked

"I'm going to ask you one more time before I burn this village. Where. Is. The. Avatar."

"Ugh fine, if you want to ruin all the fun we were having then I will tell you. Better yet, I will show you." Azula moved her arms around, making some sort of circles with them, and then thrust forward. A strong blast of air was bent towards Zuko, who fell when the air made impact with his body.

"I know that sometimes you need assistance to comprehend basic topics, so I'll be a good person and tell you. Zuzu, I'm the Avatar."


	3. The Kidnapping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula and Zuko reunite in a pathetic bending exchange.

In hindsight, proclaiming that she was the Avatar to her brother and a couple of incompetent Water Tribe peasants was not the smartest idea Azula had ever had. Just that day she had been thinking about how she must've remained hidden from the Fire Nation, as both the princess and the Avatar. But now, both of her secrets were out in the open with the least reliable person on the receiving end.

There was no doubt that Zuko would tell her father her real identity and a worldwide manhunt for her was guaranteed to be issued. But perhaps she could use this to her advantage. The Fire Lord, who is supposed to be the greatest firebender in the whole world, issuing the arrest of his daughter, who just so happens to be the Avatar. There must be some way to manipulate words in order to make him seem heartless, it wasn't that hard.

At that moment, however, her biggest issue was standing right in front of her. For some reason, Zuzu was looking for the Avatar, and he didn't seem to be taking no for an answer. Now he had the Avatar within reach, but there was no way Azula would ever let herself be captured by Zuko. Her older immature brother who was in so many ways inferior to her was nowhere near capacitated to capture her.

"I've been training for three years, searching for the Avatar, but it turns out to be you?" Zuko said the 'you' with great distaste. He had just gotten up from falling after the princess's airbending demonstration.

"Sorry to disappoint Zuzu," Azula said as she yawned

"DON'T CALL ME THAT" Zuko yelled

"Don't yell Zuko, you're scaring the children with that scar already. You don't need another reason for them to fear you."

Filled with rage and losing his self-control, Zuko punched the air, throwing a ball of fire towards his sister. Azula smirked. This was just what she wanted. Zuko had always been uncontrolled by his rage, not powerful enough to beat her despite being the older sibling.

The princess of the Fire Nation grabbed the ball of fire and redirected it towards one of the guards. Before the soldiers could retaliate, Azula ran and sent gushes of wind towards both of them, making them fall on their asses. Then, using air suction, Azula brought Zuko close to her. The firebending prince tried to move out of the way, but without being able to see the air, he had no chance of avoiding the bending move. Zuko got close to Azula against his will, and before he could attack, his sister threw a small flame towards his helmet.

The helmet got thrown off, and before he knew it, Zuko had a fire dagger very close to his neck. His arms were thrown behind him and grabbed by strong hands, making him unable to move.

"Zuzu, I must say that this was pathetic even for your standards." Azula teased, bringing the flame dagger closer to his neck. Zuko instinctively tensed up.

The Fire Nation soldiers began to stand up. Upon seeing the situation their prince was in, they immediately took a firebending stance.

"If any of you even dares to make a move towards me or this village, I will make it so the Fire Lord no longer has a Crown Prince," Azula said sternly. The soldiers looked at each other, and apprehensively, relaxed their stances. "Glad to see that some of you have common sense. Now, return to your ship and sail away."

"We cannot go without Prince Zuko," one of the soldiers said

"The only way you'll have Zuzu in your sorry excuse of a boat is in his lifeless form. Now get out of here before I sink that boat and you're both stuck here on this frozen wasteland. And if you even decide to follow us, I swear on Agni that I'll make you regret it."

The soldiers looked between the Avatar and the Prince, not sure what to do. After some seconds of deliberating, they decided to go and follow Azula's instructions.

"Wait, come back! I order you!" Zuko yelled

"Save your breath brother. No wonder it was so easy to beat you." Azula mocked

They stayed in the same position as they watched the Fire Nation boat sail away from the village. Once the ship was at a distance, Azula turned to the villagers with Zuko still in her hands.

"Do any of you have some rope? I would suggest metal cuffs, but I doubt a backward place like this has such technology at your disposition."

The women grabbed their children and hid them behind their bodies, making it seem like they were protecting them from the Fire Nation siblings. Their eyes showed a combination of fear and surprise, none of them moved an inch.

"I do not like repeating myself, but I guess I need to make an exception towards your kind. This right here," Azula moved Zuko a little bit, earning a grunt from the Fire Nation prince, "is a fire bender. If I let him go, he will kill all of you and the Southern Water Tribe will be a thing of the past. For me to go and rid your village of any danger, I need to have him apprehended, but for that, I require some sort of restraint. A rope would work, but metal cuffs are much more effective. Can one of you bring me one of those two things?"

The villagers all stood in their place. Azula was getting annoyed by the simple-mindedness of these people. She was ready to let Zuko go and burn one of their tents to earn their attention once more before a pair of hands thrust forward in front of her and gave her some rope and handcuffs.

"We had some handcuffs from some old Fire Nation raid. I don't know if they will hold on to a fire bender, but it's the best we have." Sokka said formally

"Thank you, Sokka." Azula nodded in acknowledgment. "Can you put the handcuffs on yourself? If I let him go, little Zuzu here will go ballistic."

Sokka closed the distance and put on the metal cuffs on the prince's wrists. Azula let him go, enjoying the spectacle her pathetic brother was putting.

"Get me out of this you filth!" Zuko yelled

Azula shook her head, "Zuko, be nice to these people."

"Why should I?!"

"Because you're at their mercy. Sokka, help me with putting the rope around him." The water tribe boy gave one end of the rope to Azula and began encircling Zuko, trapping the firebender in a very uncomfortable position.

"Why are you doing this Azula? Why not help the Fire Nation win the war? If you're the Avatar, you can put an end to this war for good! But instead, you're here in the South Pole, commuting with peasants, forgetting about your duties. You, Azula, are a traitor to the Fire Nation. Countless soldiers are dying because you decided to run away as soon as you learned of your gift, instead of using it to help your nation. YOu mocked uncle for retreating after Lu Ten's death in Ba Sing Se, but you're acting even worse! At least he fought! At least he's still Fire Nation! You are a traitor to your kind Azula. Do you wonder why mom never wanted to be with you? It's because you were a monster! I always thought you were so perfect, but being perfect doesn't make you a person, it makes you a demon. And this is clear evidence of that! You have no morals, no loyalty, and no honor!"

Zuko yelled

Azula yawned

"Don't be so dramatic Zuko. And why are you talking about honor? Look at your shaven head. If I remember correctly, it means that you have no honor. Either that or you have horrendous taste in hairstyles."

"Even with what has happened to me, I still hold more honor than you Azula. I will enjoy watching father's reaction when he learns that his little perfect princess is not only alive but a traitor to her nation."

"Oh shut up Zuko. You know, I won't hesitate to throw you off of Fudo once we're in the air if you keep behaving this way." Azula grinned.

"You're the Avatar?!" Katara finally voiced her surprise. She ran towards Azula with wide eyes and a huge smile.

"Unfortunately, I am the Avatar. That is the true reason why I wanted to find a waterbender. It was so that I could learn water bending. But it seems you're not up to the task so I must fly North."

"But it's such a long way!" Katara voiced her concern

"I'll be fine. Fudo and I can take any danger that comes our way. And worse comes to worst, we can sell Zuzu here to the black market."

"Please take me with you." Katara suddenly said

"Excuse me?"

"I need to master water bending. There are no other waterbenders in the South Pole, and this might be my only opportunity to learn. Please, Avatar Azula, let me travel with you and learn water bending."

Azula looked at the Water Tribe teen with cold eyes. She really didn't want to bring someone else to her to the other side of the world. Zuko was enough of a pain in the ass. But, at the same time, this was the first step to bringing balance to the world. Once the Southern Water Tribe had a waterbender, their society could advance and peace and balance could be achieved.

"Fine, you can come with. But remember that I am the leader,"

"Wait, Katara, you can't go alone with two Fire Nation people," Sokka said

"Let me guess, you want to come too." Azula rolled her eyes

"Yes. I need to protect Katara. I do not trust you or him." Sokka pointed his finger at the prince

"Sokka, I don't need protection. Just because you're a man doesn't mean that-"

"Fine, you can come. Just don't be a dead weight." Azula said walking to the outside of the village, dragging Zuko with her. "We're leaving in ten minutes. If you're not on FUdo by then, you're stuck here."

Azula didn't even spare a second glance at the village that had banished her. Yes, she had just saved the savages, but that was simply because of her Avatar duty. Personally, she couldn't care less if these savages died. It was wrong, of course, but they weren't like the Earth Kingdom villages which she saw destroyed. No, the Southern Water Tribe couldn't be compared to those places. Those places knew their place in the world, they were part of a kingdom connected by roads, a kingdom which actually knew politics and economics just as any real society should. This was just a frozen wasteland in the middle of nowhere. But no, her Avatar duty required her to distance herself from her own beliefs and do her duty. Oh, how she hated acting in ways so unnatural to her beliefs.

"Is that a dragon?!" Zuko asked surprised once he could see the blue dragon.

Azula grinned. "Yes, his name is Fudo. He's extremely loyal to me and will do anything I ask, so don't even try to cross my path."

"So you're a traitor now?" Zuko asked Azula

"I'm the Avatar."

"Is that a yes?"

"How did you get that hideous scar?" Azula asked

Zuko shut his mouth. His sister could tell that it was a sore subject, so that gave her all the more reason to exploit it.

"Can you even see through that eye? Maybe that's why it was so easy to beat you. Oh, who are we kidding? You've always been easy to beat."

Zuko growled and Azula knew that he would've attacked her had he not been bound.

"We're here!" Katara yelled as the pair approached the Fire Nation siblings.

"About time. Get up and hold on to the saddle. Also, grab on to your stuff, they might fly off and we do not have time to deviate on our journey."

The Water Tribe siblings each mounted the dragon with great ease, as they had done so before. Zuko, on the other hand, was having some problems. Mainly concerning the fact that his limbs were unusable.

"Do you need help Zuzu?" Azula asked mockingly

"I'm fine!" Zuko yelled

The Avatar rolled her eyes and Airbender her brother towards her saddle. She did the same thing to herself, the only difference being that she landed with grace while Zuko landed pathetically.

"Could one of you also hang on to Zuzu? I'm afraid he'll fly off or attempt a miserable escape."

Sokka took this as a command and grabbed the Fire Nation prince with one hand and the saddle with the other, while Katara hanged on to their stuff. Azula padded Fudo's neck and the dragon took off.

"Why are we going this way? There are faster routes where there are no Fire Nation ships around." Sokka asked the Avatar

"That ship will be a hindrance if it's kept mobile. I plan on taking care of that." Azula replied, her eyes narrowing as she saw the red Fire Nation flag. The small army boat looked even less intimidating when it was retreating. Around the ship were many glaciers and natural ice walls, which did not prove to be that big of an obstacle for a metal ship, even if it was tiny.

"Why did you go around the world in that pathetic excuse of a boat? Surely a prince would have better accommodations." Azula asked her brother without turning around, her arm telling Fudo the direction which they needed to go.

"I'm not telling you anything!" Zuko yelled

Azula shrugged her shoulders.

"You don't have to be so aggressive you know. Such negative energy is bad for your skin."

Zuko growled and Azula was sure he was about to say something, but before he could say anything, a fireball came their way. Azula had to maneuver with Fudo so that he could dodge the fireballs.

"I would've thought they cared about the wellbeing of their prince..." Azula muttered. Fudo approached the ship as best as he could, dodging the fireballs left and right.

"Katara, hand me my staff," Azula ordered calmly despite the dangerous situation.

"What's that?" the waterbender asked

"Pass me the wooden stick," Azula said a little more irritated

Katara grabbed the stick that was lying at the back of the saddle and threw it towards Azula. The princess grabbed it with ease and turned around to face the boat.

"I hope you all don't die here" Azula muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for the others to hear.

"Azula what are you-" Zuko started to ask desperately, but Azula just jumped off the blue dragon in the direction of an oncoming fireball.

"Azula!" Sokka and Katara yelled. The prince looked at his sister with wide eyes but refrained from making a sound.

The Avatar looked sternly at the incoming object. She grabbed the staff with both her hands and swiped the air to the right. The ball changed direction and took to the right, hitting an ice wall. The glacier began to crumble, a combination of snow and ice descended from it and onto the ship. The attack seized instantly, the whole Fire Nation ship covered in snow.

"UNCLE!" Zuko yelled in agony.

The blue dragon flew and captured a falling Azula. The Fire Nation princess sat down, this time looking at the passengers of her dragon with a smile.

"Crisis averted. Our way north should now be relatively dangerous free, all things considered." Azula said chirpily, clearly not reading the aura of the saddle.

"You killed him," Zuko growled

"Who?" Azula asked

"You killed Uncle."

Azula looked at the distance and saw the snow covering the ship.

"He was there?" she asked with just a hint of regret. Then she remembered, the ship was throwing fireballs towards her. If her uncle was truly in the ship, then that would mean that he was the officer in charge, which would also mean that he gave the order for the fireballs. It also meant that he would stop at nothing if it meant stopping her journey and rescuing Zuko. If Uncle Iroh was alive, it would've just meant more trouble for the Avatar. Trouble she couldn't afford. "It was either him or us, and I for one don't plan on dying at the South Pole."

"Of course, why would I have thought that you of all people understood what remorse is? You're crazy, and a psychopath."

"You may have known me years ago, but you know nothing of who I am right now. I do not need to explain myself to you, a brother who has always been jealous of me because I was a prodigy, a brother who truly believed that I was born lucky while he was lucky to be born, a brother who believed that he was the only one to work hard. Do you know why you're such a failure Zuko? It's because you're weak. In this world, only the strong will survive. You always hated me for doing what I needed to do to survive." Azula said

Zuko scoffed.

"What you needed to do to survive? You took the easy way out and are just lying to yourself about it because you need to feel some sense of heroic to keep yourself from the fact that you're a traitor."

"You think it's easy going against everything you've been taught throughout your childhood? We were taught that the Fire Nation brought peace and prosperity to the world, that the rest of the world aspired to be like us. But guess what? The rest of the world hates us! And I don't blame them. The amount of atrocities committed by our fellow countrymen is disgusting.

"It's easy learning about the things we've done from a book and from teachers ignorant enough to believe the lies the Fire Lord feeds them. But once you see the bloody body of a child on the street, or hear the screams of women and young girls as their innocence is taken away, then you understand the reality of war. This war was supposed to bring glory to the Fire Nation, but aside from our colonies, there is nothing glorious about the war. The Air Nomad genocide was disgusting, and the Water Bender extermination was also horrendous. You may think I'm a traitor, but I'm not. I'm bringing honor back to the Fire Nation on my own volition because I'm the

only one who can do it." Azula ranted

"You have been corrupted by these peasants. A true Fire Nation nationalist would never doubt Fire Lord Sozin's mission." Zuko spat

"I am not doubting it. In fact, I'm honoring it. I will bring prosperity to the four nations just as he wanted. The Fire Nation will be looked up upon once I'm finished with my mission."

"So you rather help these peasants than aid your fellow countrymen?"

"I'm helping these peasants so that our countrymen can stop behaving like the savages we all hate. If you can't listen to me with an open mind then you're a moron, unfit to be Fire Lord, and a nuisance I'll have to exterminate."

Zuko glared at Azula, her doing the same but little blue flames coming out of her nostrils.

"Azula, where are we going now?" Katara asked the princess, trying to ease the tension the Fire Nation siblings had brought onto the saddle.

The firebender turned her gaze towards the Water Tribe girl and her face turned into a more neutral look. "Kyoshi Island."

"Why Kyoshi Island and not the Southern Air Temple?" Sokka asked with his eyebrows furrowed

"There is no way I'm letting Zuko go to the sacred temple, he'll tarnish it." Azula scrunched her nose in disgust with the thought. "Kyoshi Island is neutral in the war, so it is the safest way to go. Also, I have to ride the elephant-koi fish."

"I thought you had said that we had no time for diversions," Sokka said somewhat accusingly

The Avatar turned her back to the passengers. "I owe it to a friend," she muttered

The Water Tribe siblings didn't pester her too much on her decision, which she truly appreciated but would not say out loud.

Capturing her brother hadn't been part of her plan, and it wasn't the best thing to do, but it was her only choice. If she had let Zuko go, he would've told her father about her true identity and all her plans would've been destroyed. The attack had to be timed to perfection or else it wouldn't work.

Kidnapping wasn't on the list of good deeds an Avatar should do, but couldn't it be if it meant it was for the greater good of the world? After all, she didn't want to do this, just like how she didn't want to kill her father, it was simply her duty as the Avatar.

But her duty as the Avatar was now contradicting itself with other Avatar duties. If she needed to kidnap someone for the greater good, but the person kidnapped has technically done nothing wrong, is it still a good action? Is she being biased because it's her brother (with whom she had such a bad history with) and he had wanted to capture her or is she simply doing what every Avatar would do? She was going to argue that yes, it was still a good and just action however bad it may seem...yet there was still a place in her heart were doubt reigned. By doing this she was truly committing treason against the Fire Nation, her home, her people.

She did not regret her choice of alliance when it came to this war. She knew that the Fire Nation needed to be stopped, but she still felt somewhat uneasy. She had loved her life in the palace, her life as a princess. She loved having servants to order around, and she loved having sleepovers with Mai and Ty Lee. All of those fond memories would now become part of her obscure past, a past not fit for the Avatar. Azula knew that she needed to be essentially good, and all those traces of her past which showed her otherwise would need to be hidden from her consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Zuko seemed to be too weak, but at that moment in canon he truly was inferior to Azula. Add to that the fact that Azula also has air bending and you got that easy defeat. 
> 
> Also remember that season 1 Zuko wasn't the most compassionate or nice character out there, so I'm trying hard to make it like that. 
> 
> And while Azula is the Avatar, we see that she's still not a nice person. She will change a little bit over time, but I can't completely change her character. If I did that, then it wouldn't really be Azula.


	4. The Kyoshi Warriors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula and her companions arrive to Kyoshi Island.

The journey from the South Pole to Kyoshi Island had been much longer than Azula had anticipated. The Fire Nation princess knew that it wasn't going to be a couple of hours ride, but she also hoped that it would take maximum of a day to get there. However, it seemed that between the pit-stops and her horrible social skills, the ride felt much longer than necessary. Azula tried to have normal conversations, she really did, but for some reason she couldn't. She didn't know if it was because of her lack of actual human contact for three years (her past life didn't count) or if it was just her personality, but Azula knew that she had found her weakness.

It would've been completely fine if she only had to order the Water Tribe siblings around. That she was used to from her days at the palace. But on Fudo there were no orders to be given, only awkward conversations.

"Let's play a game!" Katara said excitedly

Sokka groaned, "Why? Can't we just relax and look at the clouds?"

"We've been doing that for the past four hours, and I'm getting tired of the silence." Katara replied

"It may not be a bad idea." Azula said, turning around with the reigns still in hand

"See, Avatar approved," Katara grinned

"Fine, I'll play your stupid game." Sokka resigned. "Which game are we playing?"

"20 questions"

Azula looked confused. "How do you play that?"

The Water Tribe boy shrugged his shoulders. "Someone asks a question, the rest have to reply truthfully, and that's it. Oh, and everyone gets 20 questions, hence the name."

Zuko, who had been silent for the majority of the journey, scoffed.

"Good luck playing that. Azula always lies."

"You're still with that mantra? That's pathetic." Azula rolled her eyes

"Who wants to start?" Katara asked, wanting to avoid any arguments between the firebending siblings.

"I'll start." Azula said. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen," "Fifteen" Sokka and Katara said at the same time

The three of them turned to Zuko, who was eyeing the group with hate in his eyes. The Fire Nation prince suddenly became aware that the group was waiting for his response.

"I'm not going to answer you,"

"You'll answer if you want the other half of your face intact," Azula warned

Zuko glared at her and his sister glared back, neither of them breaking eye contact with the other.

After a while, Zuko finally relented and sighed.

"Sixteen,"

"I'll go next! What's your favorite food?" Katara asked

"Two-headed fish soup" Sokka replied proudly

"Roast duck"

"Mochi," Azula replied, reminding herself of her time escaping the Fire Nation. It had been five years since she had last eaten the delight, and she didn't know if her taste-buds had changed in that time. But mochi reminded her of her life in the palace, her happy childhood, and her not-so-good-hearted times when she manipulated Mai and Ty Lee. It wasn't that she regretted it, far from it really, nobody could regret eating mochi, but she still remembers those days with some sort of melancholy.

"I'm going to ask next. Have you ever had one of your parents call you a monster because you were such a devil child? Or better yet, were you ever called a prodigy by your father, given everything you'd ever wanted, and when someone didn't give you exactly what you wished, you burned the gift because you were spoiled? Have you ever had your cousin die but didn't even react, in fact, your reaction was to say that your uncle was a loser and a quitter for returning home after the loss of his only son? Has one of you ever been hated by your mother?"

Zuko said all that in a joking tone, but it was evident that he was not joking in the slightest. Azula had fumes coming out of her nostrils, the only thing keeping her from lashing out on her brother was knowing that it would just prove his point. She knew, even if he didn't, that she had changed. She accepted that she had been a horrible child growing up, but that was no reason to act this way at the moment, after years of not seeing each other.

Sokka looked between the siblings and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Katara had somehow not read the room and replied to the question.

"My mother died in a Fire Nation raid," she said, touching her necklace

"Katara, not the time," Sokka whispered

Azula looked at Katara with cold eyes. "I am sorry for your loss."

She then turned to Zuko, who was looking at his sister with hate reserved to one's mortal enemy.

"Yes, I have been called a monster by mother because of my behavior as a child. Yes, I was called a prodigy by father, but I was not given everything I had ever wanted. I did not receive a single hug from either of my parents, I never received an "I love you Azula" from anyone. You always say that I was born lucky because father said so, but if you could just overlook your own pathetic suffering, you could see the reality of everything.

"Iroh returning to the Fire Nation after Lu Ten's death was incredibly stupid. He should've gotten revenge, at least that way our cousin wouldn't have died in vain. But he returned, and cousin died for nothing. You may say I'm heartless, that I'm a psychopath. I don't care wait you say Zuko. But at least I'm not a moron with an inferiority complex who's too blind to see that he was the one born with luck." Azula said

Zuko's eyebrow furrowed. "Me? Born with luck? It's funny you say that given that father didn't burn you!"

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" Azula asked genuinely

"I didn't expect you too. You're just like him after all,"

The Fire Nation princess had been controlling her anger very well for the past day. However, something about what Zuko said simply shook her to the core. She couldn't help but feel deeply insulted for being called the same as her father. Monster she could manage. Traitor she could understand. But she would never be fine with anybody calling her Ozai. It didn't matter if his blood ran through her veins, that man was just everything wrong with the Fire Nation. That man had manipulated her during her childhood, shaped her into a weapon, only to bear no qualms in disposing her.

Azula threw a right hook at Zuko's face, leaving him bruised on the left side of his face, just below the scar.

"Don't you ever say that I'm like him." Azula growled, making her way back to the front of the saddle and taking the reins.

'Katara, can you sew my pants?" Sokka asked

Around two hours later, and multiple discussions about Sokka's sexism, the Avatar and her companions finally arrived at Kyoshi Island. The island was fairly big, with Azula only being able to see a forest between the beach and the mainland. Fudo landed next to the beach, falling asleep as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"There there Fudo, you can rest now. You did a great job." Azula patted her dragon affectionally while Sokka and Katara jumped off the saddle.

"I have to say, I'm looking forward to having more stops if we're going to have this scenery." Katara said

"Yeah yeah whatever. Azula, I'm going to the woods." Sokka said hurriedly

Azula raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You know, nature calls…"

"I haven't heard nature or spirits manifesting," Azula said in a very serious tone

"I gotta go pee!"

Azula opened her mouth and slowly nodded. "Oh. Well then, off you go. But try to be quick, we need to stay as a group."

Sokka ran off to the woods, all while Katara sat on the beach. Azula looked at the Water Tribe girl and sighed, walking towards her and sitting at her side. Katara said nothing, but the Fire Nation princess could feel her stiffening at her presence. The Avatar still felt weird being around people, but she felt that something was wrong with the waterbender.

"Sob stories aren't good," Azula finally said after a couple of minutes of silence.

Katara turned to look at her, "What do you mean?"

"You shouldn't tell everyone about your mother. It exposes vulnerability, and you can't afford to be weak in this world. I'm not saying you shouldn't be sad, but sadness shouldn't be visible to your opponents. The less they know about you, the better. People always fear the unknown."

"Are you sad?" Katara asked the Avatar

"At one point I was, but right now I'm indifferent. If my childhood had been any different, then I wouldn't be where I am right now. And look at me, I wouldn't trade being me for anything." Azula said with a smug smile

"Can someone get me down of this beast?!" Zuko yelled from the top of Fudo

Azula shook her head. "I can, but I don't want to," she yelled back

"Why do you two hate each other so much?" Katara asked

"Many reasons, but it can be summarized by one simple word: jealousy."

"That doesn't make any sense. Sokka is jealous of my waterbending, but he's still a good brother"

"Speaking of Sokka, what's taking him so long? He was supposed to be finished by now…" Azula muttered

"I'm going to look for him."

"No, you stay and guard Zuko. If anything happened, I'm the most capable to save your brother." Azula said, running off towards the direction Sokka had taken before Katara could even reply.

The tracks were clear, the Water Tribe teen had been in this part of the forest. The leaves on the ground had been stepped on, and some of the tree branches were broken. This meant either one of two things. Either Sokka was the most anti-environmentalist person in the whole entire world, or a fight had taken place in the forest. And with no track of Sokka nearby, it was fairly easy to conclude what had happened.

"Leave it to a savage to get captured while doing bodily necessities." Azula grumbled

Before Azula could investigate the scene further, a yell was heard from the beach.

"Zuko…" Azula muttered, her eyes widening at the thought of her brother. She ran off towards the beach, where she had left Katara in charge of Zuko. However, before she could arrive at the scene, she was abruptly grabbed by the back of her clothes. Azula threw a flame towards her attacker, but two others seemed to grab on to her and tie her up, restricting her movement. Then, they put a blind-fold on her, completing the mighty fight of the Avatar versus some non-benders.

Azula felt herself being lifted by some slender hands. She didn't trash around, as she knew that it wouldn't help her case of being innocent about whichever crime these people thought she was guilty off. Or if they were simply pirates or other type of illegal fighters, then she could simply take a good opportunity to escape.

After ten minutes of being carried, the princess was finally let down. A couple of hands grabbed her again and tied her up to a pole. Azula felt a shoulder brushing against hers, meaning that her companions had also been captured by these assailants.

"You four have some explaining to do." The voice of an old man said

"And if you don't answer all our questions, we'll throw you into the water with the Unagi." a young woman added.

"Show yourselves cowards!" Sokka yelled

The assailants took the blindfold off, revealing a group of girls with green kimonos and armor. They had white makeup on their face, with red paint in the space between their eyes and eyebrows. In other words, they looked exactly like how Azula remembered Avatar Kyoshi.

"Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?" Sokka asked

The one with the biggest metal forehead accessory, who Azula assumed was the leader, took a step forward.

"There were no men, we ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here."

"Wait a minute. There's no way a bunch of girls took us down." Sokka mocked

Azula groaned. Of course, the Water Tribe savage was going to make this diffuclt.

"A bunch of girls huh?" the leader grabbed Sokka by his collar, "The Unagi is going to eat well tonight."

"No don't hurt him! He didn't mean it. My brother's just an idiot sometimes." Katara said from his side

"Right, more like all the time. Anyways Kyoshi Fan Girls, it was fun meeting you. Now let us go so we can keep going our own way."

"How do we know you're not Fire Nation Spies?" the old man asked pointing at Zuko, "He's clearly Fire Nation,"

Azula sighed, "He is Fire Nation, but he's our prisoner so that should tell you a lot about our loyalty."

"You also look suspiciously Fire Nation," the old man added

"She firebended when we took her!" one of the girls yelled

"I don't understand why my ethnicity matter this much. You do know your fighting style comes from the Fire Nation, right?"

"Times have changed. Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"But we can help end the war! Azula here is the Avatar!" Katara said desperately

Azula closed her eyes, sighing in order to keep her calm.

"Katara, you remember when we talked about you revealing your weak points? We also don't reveal our strong points this way. Nobody should to know I'm the Avatar until the time is right."

"That's impossible. The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared 100 years ago." The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors expressed

"Not true. The last avatar was an earthbender. And before him someone from the Water Tribe, and before her it was the airbender from 100 years ago." Azula explained nonchalantly

"Impostor!" the old man yelled, "Throw them to the Unagi."

The Kyoshi Warriors opened their fans and began to walk towards the group. Azula rolled her eyes and took a very deep breath. As the warriors approached, the Fire Nation princess exhaled, throwing a very powerful gush of wind towards the assailants, making them fall about 30 feet back.

"There, airbending. Do you also need me to demonstrate fire?"

"It's true, she's the Avatar" the old man muttered in surprise. The villagers, who Azula had just seen for the first time, all looked at her in awe. They had blue clothes like the Water Tribes, but their style was different than any she had seen before. The villagers all wore blue bandanas on their foreheads, and unlike the Earth Kingdom mainland residents, many of the villagers of Kyoshi had blue eyes.

"It was already established, but yes." Azula rolled her eyes. "Bearing that in mind, could you please untie me and my friends. The Fire Nation boy can stay tied up, he's actually our prisoner. Oh, and one more thing. None of you are to tell anybody that the Avatar is alive or that I'm here. If word got out, a Fire Nation attack to your shores will be inevitable. And you may not think that's a big problem, but just look at the boy there. See that scar? That will be how you die if anybody tells the Avatar is here. Now untie me."

The villagers stood shock at the blunt words the Avatar threw at them. Even one guy, whose mouth was filled with foam, now stood paralyzed.

"Are you as dense as the Water Tribe people? I said untie me!" Azula yelled angrily.

This had not been her best day. First, she gets into a fight with Zuko, which wasn't that big of a deal until he compared her with her father. Then, her group got captured. Now, and worst of all, she had to repeat her instructions to a couple of girls who cosplayed like her past life. The only way this day could've gotten worse was if somehow her mother was in the village and started spewing lies.

"What shall we do with him?" the leader of the Kyoshi warriors asked Azula. She had been untied, as well as the Water Tribe siblings. Zuko now was in custody of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Just keep an eye on him. You can throw him in a cell or tie him on a chair for all I care."

"You can't treat me like this!" Zuko yelled

"Stop the drama Zuzu. It's getting old" Azula smirked, turning away from the Kyoshi Warriors and walking towards the old man.

The old man bowed.

"It's an honor to have the Avatar in our presence. My name is Oyaji, and I deeply apologize for our most abrupt introduction."

"It is an honor I'm sure, and I accept your apology. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Of course Avatar,"

"Azula,"

Oyaji furrowed his eyebrows. "Pardon?"

"My name is Azula. Please refrain from calling me Avatar, I do not yet deserve it. Only when I master all four elements will I be able to be the Avatar. But for now I am simply Azula of the Fire Nation."

"As you wish Av-Azula." Oyaji bowed. "Please, follow me. We will prepare a feast in your honor as you have brought hope to our island."

"Very well. Sokka, Katara, come with me." Azula said, walking alongside the elder of the village.

The feast had been the best food Azula had eaten in years. It was almost as good as the good she ate back at the palace, but the flavors were not as strong. Still, it was much better than vegetarian food in the temples or the rations she ate while traveling the Earth Kingdom.

But the feast had not been very enjoyable. Although the food was exquisite, the ambient surrounding the group had not been great. Katara was normal, chatting about what she hoped to learn at the North Pole and whatnot. It was Sokka who had been unbearable. He had denied any food and sat as far away as he could from the other members of the group. His sister mentioned that he just had a bruised ego because a bunch of girls beat him up. Azula couldn't understand his logic. She should be the one embarrassed for being taken down by a bunch of nonbenders in a secluded island. But Sokka apparently took it very hard, getting up in the middle of the feast to walk Agni knew where.

"Katara, since you're the only one here, do you want to see me ride the Elephant koi fish?" Azula asked once she finished her meal

"I was thinking of getting supplies for our trip. Even if Sokka didn't eat anything today, I know he will eat half of what we already have in a couple of hours."

Azula nodded. "Alright. Meet me in front of Kyoshi's statue in six hours?"

"Yes. See you then!"

Azula stood up and exited the house. Outside she saw many of the villagers staring at her as if she was some kind of entity. Well, she was an entity (in more senses than one), but she had not felt these many stares since her days at the Royal Academy for Girls.

Ignoring the looks the villagers gave her, the young princess walked towards the beach. As she made her way, she felt someone behind her. Azula slowed her pace and felt whoever was following her decrease his speed. Making a sudden movement, Azula turned around and pinned the stalked to the ground, a blue flame in her free hand.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" she asked venomously

A boy around fourteen or fifteen with blue eyes squirmed at the sight of the fire. He wore blue clothes and the bandana, making it clear that he was one of the villagers.

"I'm Ken from the village. I was following you, so I could see you and maybe talk to you. I'm sorry."

"Why do you want to talk to me? I hold no valuable information." Azula said

"Just wanted to get to know you. I mean, you're the Avatar, but you're also Fire Nation. I really just wanted to talk."

Azula looked at him and tried to make out any lies that he may have said, but to her surprise, she found none. This boy seemed to be talking with honesty, which actually intrigued Azula. The princess extinguished her fire and stood up, offering a hand towards the boy. Ken tentatively took it, still worked up about the Avatar attacking him.

"I apologize for my actions," Azula said sincerely

"Don't worry about it. No harm no foul." Ken replied with a slight chuckle. "So, what are you doing now?"

"I'm on my way to the beach to ride the Elephant-koi," Azula replied, continuing her walk. The boy followed after her.

"That's dangerous. You know, with the Unagi and all,"

"Life gets stale unless you put on a little danger,"

Ken shrugged his shoulders, "That's true, but I would also prefer the danger not being life-threatening. Have you ever ridden them?"

Azula shook her head

"No, but I made a promise to someone that I would,"

"Ah."

They continued their path in an awkward silence. Azula felt weird around this person. Not the kind of weird that she thought she might be in trouble, but still weird.

"I like your outfit. Is it Fire Nation?" Ken asked, breaking the silence

"No, it's Air Nomad. I've been living in an Air Temple for three years, so I had to learn how to live like them, and that included making clothes." Azul explained

"Couldn't you have taken some clothes that were left on the temple?"

"Technically yes, but I wouldn't have learned that way. Right now, I'm the only person alive who still knows the ways of the Air Nomads, and once I finish this war, I have to make their legacy live on. Only then will balance be fully achieved."

"What are your plans for after you end the war?" Ken asked

"Keep bringing balance to the world while on the Fire Nation,"

"So, you'll go back there?"

"Of course, it's my home." Azula said. "I like your outfit too,"

"It's just what everybody else wears,"

"Yes, but it's a cool outfit. Careful, it may be cool enough to freeze Fire Nation troops, leaving thousands vulnerable enough for barbarians to take over and slaughter them. Because, it's so cool."

Ken looked at the princess with a raised eyebrow and an apprehensive look.

"Umm, thanks…" He chuckled lightly, a little scared of the tone the Avatar had used on him.

Azula frowned. She didn't understand what had just happened. She didn't understand why she had said those words. Cleary they weren't the correct ones to use, even if she thought she was complimenting him.

They were silent until they reached the beach. Ken was still put off about the princess behaviors, and Azula was still confused about what she had done wrong.

"So, this is the beach. A good place if you like sand," Ken proclaimed proudly

Azula didn't laugh, the joke was not funny.

The Avatar began to take off her clothes in order to go to the water. She saw then the boy taking his clothes off too.

"Why are you taking your clothes off?" Azula asked

"You've never ridden the Elephant-koi, so I'm going to teach you how to ride them." Ken smiled, putting his clothes in a small bundle underneath a tree. Azula picked up her clothes and put them besides his.

"Alright so first step is to get in the water." Ken said, walking towards the sore. The firebender followed him, getting in the water until it reached her waist.

"It's really cold,"

"Well, there is snow all around us." Ken replied. "Ok, next step is to swim deep into the sea, where the elephant koi reside. Then, all you do is grab on to their top fins and voila, you're riding the elephant koi."

"So, the fish does all the work." Azula said

"Yeah, but it's still fun. Are you going to do it?"

"Of course, I am. I'm no quitter. Are you?"

"I'm going to ride them and even better than you." Ken smirked

Azula put on a serious face, her face of competition. "We'll see about that."

The princess of the Fire Nation dived into the water and swam towards the center of the bay. Ken followed right behind her, quickly targeting an elephant koi fish and getting on it.

"Do you think you'll be able to catch up?" the boy mocked

Azula was furious. How dare a commoner, a peasant, assume he was better than her? She was going to show him how an elephant koi was truly ridden. The princess saw a free elephant koi and swam towards it, grabbing its top fins with ease and making the fish go up into the surface.

Her fish was much faster than Ken's koi, as it made circles around him. The boy chuckled while Azula smirked, knowing full well that she was winning the game.

"Well, I have to give it to you Azula, you're a natural." Ken smiled

"Of course I am. I'm good at everything I do." Azula replied smugly

"Whatever you say. Let's go back before the Unagi comes to eat us."

Azula, truly not wanting to stretch her luck, nodded and rode the elephant koi back to the shore, Ken following right behind her.

"Well, that was fun." Azula sighed as she walked back to where their clothes were.

"Yeah, it was. Damn, I haven't done that in such a long time." Ken laughed, putting on his clothes. "So, how long are you staying here for?"

"I wasn't planning on staying for long. I have to get to the North Pole as soon as possible so I can learn waterbending,"

"Oh, I was hoping you could've stayed like a week or something, but I understand that you have your Avatar duties."

Azula felt that strange feeling in her gut again.

"Do you want to see my dragon?" she asked Ken out of nowhere

The boy's face lit up. "You have a dragon?!"

"Come on, I'll show you."

Azula walked to where she had left Fudo last and found her blue dragon lying on his belly, sleeping soundly, still tired from the journey.

"Wow! It's the real thing! Does it breathe fire?" Ken asked excitedly

Azula nodded, "His name is Fudo, and yes he does, so I would advise you not to wake him."

"Right." Ken smiled at Azula. "Thank you for showing me,"

"Don't thank me, I just felt like I had to," Azula said

"Well still, I think it's a really good gesture. Unless you show him to every guy you meet."

"You're the only one. Well, Sokka knows because he found me while I was with Fudo, and Zuko knows because I kidnapped him, but otherwise you're the only boy I've shown."

Ken chuckled. "Thank you then, it's a great honor." He bowed, getting closer to Azula.

"Don't mention it. I bet Fudo would like you."

"Oh really? Why's that?" Ken asked

"Well, because I like you," Azula said not realizing her words. As soon as Ken heard them, he closed the distance between him and the princess, touching his lips gainst hers. His lips felt cold against hers, yet she still liked it. It was her first kiss, a really romantic scene by her standards, even if she had only known the boy for less than a day.

When they broke off their kiss, Ken smirked.

"You're pretty," he said

"Together," Azula said sweetly, before completely changing her stance. Her back straightened and her hands were lit on fire. "we will be the strongest couple in the entire world. We will bring peace to the four nations, and may our opponents rest in ashes,"

The smile on Ken's face vanished quickly, and a thick sweat drop fell down through his face.

"Uh, I just remembered I didn't tell my mom where I was going. She must be looking for me. I'll, uh, see you later!" he said with a forced smile, walking back to the village with a fast pace.

Azula just stared at where the Kyoshi teen had just taken off to. She didn't understand what she did wrong. He had told her she was pretty, and he had kissed her, so what had gone wrong? The princess had actually liked the boy, and maybe that's why it felt like he used her. Of course, now he would brag about kissing the Avatar to his friends in the village. She would be just a conquest, an oddity.

She would not cry. Not matter how much it hurt, there are still things that hurt worse. That peasant boy did not deserve any tears from her.

Azula stayed with Fudo for a couple of hours, until the sun began to set. As she saw the orange skies, the Fire Nation princess stood up from her sulking position and walked towards the village. Right in front of the Kyoshi statue stood Katara with many supplies at hand.

"Hey Azula! Did you get to ride the elephant koi?" Katara asked with a big smile

"Yes. Let's go find Sokka and leave, the time for detours is over." Azula replied dryly.

Katara looked at the firebender with suspicion. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I said I am! Give me the supplies. You go find Sokka and my brother. Meet me in front of Fudo as soon as you can." Azula ordered, grabbing the supplies and walking out of the conversation.

The Avatar walked past the villagers, not sparing a glance towards any of the peasants. She was still furious about the event of earlier that day.

"Leaving so soon?" Oyaji asked as he came face to face with Azula. He was just at the edge of the village, standing with a sad smile.

"I need to arrive at the North Pole as quickly as possible, so I'm sorry we won't be able to stay longer. I greatly appreciate your hospitality."

"It was a great honor to host you Azula. I hope you can complete your mission and come visit when we can call you Avatar."

Azula nodded, "I promise I will."

After bidding goodbye, the Fire Nation princess walked with the supplies at hand towards Fudo. Seeing as the others had yet to arrive, Azula began loading the supplies on Fudo. Once she loaded all the supplies, Azula got on the saddle and waited for the others.

It wasn't long before Katara arrived with Zuko on hand and Sokka with makeup and a kimono.

"Sexist Sokka with a dress? I cannot believe my eyes." Azula joked once her companions had gotten on the saddle.

"Laugh all you want, but the Kyoshi Warriors are respectable warriors with great honor heritage." Sokka said proudly

"Well of course, I founded them. Well, Kyoshi did, but it was still technically me." Azula said proudly. "But you look good with makeup."

"You don't have to make fun of me."

"I'm not. You actually look good. I'm impressed peasant." Azula smiled while Sokka blushed.

"And how did they treat you Zuzu?" Azula asked her brother

"It was humiliating! I was-"

"I forgot, nobody cares," Azula cut him off. "Let's go Fudo. Next stop, somewhere in the route to the North Pole. And remember, no deviations from now on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I basically had Chan turn into a boy fro Kyoshi Island who has a little more personality but nothing else. I tried to put Azula as antisocial as possible, but it's honestly very hard. I feel like she's just an over logical person, which is how I'm also trying to write her, so hopefully it all mixes well. 
> 
> Next chapter we will see more of Zuko (he won't be so obnoxious) and a new character who is already on the tags. 
> 
> And this story will not follow canon 100%, so bear that in mind.


	5. The airbender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula reunites with an old friend.

_In the Fire Nation Royal Palace, two little girls stood on a corner watching their plan unveil. Prince Zuko was supposed to walk down the hall at that moment, which was the same time that they had told their friend Mai to meet them. The girl was walking down the hall, stopping in the middle waiting for her friends. That was when Zuko sulked down the hall in his very pathetic manner. The prince looked at the girl and approached her with a question on his mind._

_“Have you seen my mother?” Zuko asked the girl_

_Mai shook her head._

_“Why are you here anyways?”_

_“Azula told me she would meet me in this hall” Mai replied in a monotonous voice but with a slight blush on her cheeks_

_The Fire Nation prince nodded. “She’ll probably won’t take much longer.”_

_The two kids fell into an awkward silence as the two girls giggled from their hiding place._

_“Now for the final touch,” one of the girls muttered as she conjured a flame and sent it flying towards the Prince. Zuko jumped in surprise and accidentally collided with Mai, whose blush worsened with the physical contact. They both fell down, with Zuko on top of the noble girl and their faces barely inched apart._

_“I-I umm…” Mai was at a loss of words._

_Zuko was also blushing, but his face soon became enraged. It was evident that he connected the dots and figured out who the person who sent the flame was._

_“AZULA!!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs._

_“We gotta go!” Azula grabbed her friends’ hand and ran towards an opposite direction. They ran like their lives depended on it and only stopped when they reached a hidden room. It was one of the rooms opened by firebending, one of which was supposed to be a secret of the Fire Lord. But Azula’s curious mind had found the secret passaged and rooms when she was barely five years old._

_“Did you see the blush on Mai’s face? They look so cute together!” her friend began to say excitedly_

_“Right? Imagine, if Mai marries my brother then we would all be a family. They would be the boring ones, of course.” Azula said_

_“What do you mean by ‘we’ Azula?”_

_“You don’t think that you would not get to be part of the family, right? You would be with me! Together we would rule the world! And Zuko and Mai can just be there to have babies.” Azula explained_

_Her friend raised an eyebrow. “Zula, you know you’re the most perfect, smartest, beautifullest girl in the world, but I don’t get what you mean.”_

_Azula exhaled. “It’s easy Ty Lee. You are my best friend, and as my best friend you will have the privilege of being part of my family. We could get married, and that way you will never leave me and we can be together forever.”_

_“But marriage is between a man and a woman, not two girls” Ty Lee said clearly confused_

_“I’ll change that when I become Fire Lord.”_

_“But we don’t need to get married. We can be best friends forever and ever, and I promise to never ever leave you.”_

_Azula looked at her friend doubtfully. “Not that I don’t trust you, but you could easily turn back on your word if things go rough.”_

_“I swear on my life Azula, I will never leave you. For as long as I can I will be by your side, because you’re my best friend. Actually,” Ty Lee got up and grabbed a knife that was laying on a table. It was a bone knife, clearly from the Water Tribes. The acrobat grabbed Azula’s hand and cut her palm a little._

_“Ouch! What are you doing?”_

_Ty Lee took her own palm and cut through it. Then she grabbed Azula’s bloody hand and shook it with her own._

_“Now we’re blood sisters. The oath is sealed by our blood, and nothing can ever break it. We will always be together Azula.”_

_Azula stared at the two hands, the blood slowly dripping from the union._

_“Was this barbaric ritual truly necessary?”_

_Ty Lee shook her head, “No, but it’s the meaning that counts. Plus, now we can really be a blood family. We’ll be more family than Mai and Zuko!”_

_Azula smiled at her friend, appreciating the fact that she truly had a friend who she could fully trust._

The Avatar woke up at the crack of dawn, same as every other day. Her brother was also awake, rubbing his hand on his growing hair. It had been a week since Azula and the Water Tribe siblings decided to cut Zuko’s Phoenix Tail, much to the teen dismay. It was done so they could blend in better with the Earth Kingdom crowd, but Azula secretly did it because she just hated looking at Zuko with a hideous hairstyle. 

Azula looked at the sleeping teens with apprehension, questioning for the fifth time that week why she had decided to let these pests tag along on her journey. They had been quite a pain in the ass. Between whining about needing to help people or getting kidnapped by Hei Bai, a spirit from the Spirit World who had decided to terrorize a town, the Southerners were simply one of the worst companies Azula could’ve asked for. 

“Good morning Zuzu” the princess said

Zuko stared at her before sighing. “I have to reply don’t I?”

“Only if you want to keep your remaining eyebrow”

The prince groaned. “Ugh, fine. Good morning Azula. Do you know where we are?”

Azula smiled. “We are in the outskirts of the Fire Nation. We will go into a town today to buy supplies.”

Zuko’s eyes widened in fear. 

“We are in the Fire Nation?! But I can’t be here!”

“And you have never even told me why. As far as I’m concerned, this is just another town which does not need to know I am the Avatar. Nothing different from the rest.”

“Azula, can I at least stay with your beast?” Zuko asked in an uncharacteristically begging motion

The Avatar raised an eyebrow before smirking. “No, you must come with us to the town. Fudo will need to hide because he runs the risk of being hunted.”

“ _I’m_ also running the risk of being hunted!”

“You forget a key factor. You see, I love Fudo more than I care for you”

Zuko growled but decided to drop the topic. It was clear that arguing with Azula would not lead to any favorable results. 

A couple of hours later, the Water Siblings woke up and began doing what they did best: complain. Azula had to bear the same questions over and over again. _‘Why are we in the Fire Nation?’ ‘Why do we have to go into the town?’ ‘Can’t we just…not go into the town?’ ‘What are we going to eat today?’_ Azula had heard enough, so she gave them an ultimatum. Either they shut their whining for a day or they would both lose eyesight on one eye. Normally they wouldn’t have given up so easily, but after seeing Azula’s temperament, they decided to trust the warning and leave the princess alone. 

It was early afternoon when the group of four entered the Fire Nation town. The people all wore red clothing, had bright smiles on their faces, and commerce seemed to prosper. Azula smiled at the sight. It had been way too long since she had been alongside fellow countrymen who weren’t about to attack her or were tolerable. Even though they were peasants, these townspeople seemed to be much better company than Zuko. 

After buying basic necessities such as food and clothing, the group started to head back. However, as they walked on the street, a large poster took Sokka’s attention. 

“Look at this! We should go Azula!” Sokka said pointing at the poster. It read _Shu Pao Traveling Circus, offering attractions such as wild beasts, clowns, and the world best acrobat!_

Azula shook her head. “No, we are not wasting our time on a circus, savage.”

“But why not?” Sokka asked, ignoring the insult that had just been thrown at him. “We need to rest our minds from constantly running away from people or getting into trouble.”

“I hate to say this, but I agree with Sokka.” Katara added. “We need to have an off day.”

“You peasants should not have a say into what we do.” Zuko said angrily

The Avatar smirked, “Actually, they have a much better reason to talk than you do. In fact, they have just convinced me into going to the circus.”

“The circus is a waste of time!” Zuko yelled

“Yet we’re still going. So shut up unless you want the Fire Nation army to find you here and bring you to the Fire Lord.” Azula replied with finality, leaving Zuko in his grumpy old self once again. 

The group walked towards the outskirts of the town, where many tents were laid out around a big tent. There were many people walking around, mostly children with their families. The two pairs of siblings walked up to the main tent, where a huge man with a top knot was standing. Azula looked at the man in a bored manner while the others were looking quite scared.

Before the man could even say the price, Azula took out her money and paid for the four of them. It was money that she had stolen, but that didn’t matter to anyone. The man simply nodded as he received the money, handing the four tickets to Azula and letting the group pass though into the tent. 

The seats were filling quite fast, so the group had to sit down somewhat away from the stage. It was still visible, but it was not as best as it could’ve been. 

“I’m gonna go buy Fire Gummies. You guys want anything?” Sokka asked the group. 

“Fire Flakes for me, none for Peperoni face.” Azula replied as Zuko grumbled. 

“Got it, Fire Flakes for Azula. Katara?”

“I’m good, you don’t have to buy me anything.” 

Sokka nodded and headed out to buy the food. The trio kept waiting for the show to start in an awkward silence. Zuko and Azula were not on the best of terms, and Azula and Katara did not talk extensively about topics that did not concern their trauma. 

“So, we’re in a circus.” Katara broke the ice

“Yeah, fun.” Zuko replied

“Don’t be such a downer Zuko. I’m sure it’ll be the most fun we’ve had in a long time.” Azula added

“That’s not saying much.”

“I’m excited to see Fire Nation entertainment. Back home we didn’t have much fun. There was penguin sledding and snowball fights, but those stopped a few years back. There was nothing like a spectacle per se.” Katara explained

Azula nodded, “Back at the palace we didn’t have that much fun either. The most we did was going to see _Love Amongst the Dragons_ , and that was only because mother adored it. And a culture activity that one time, but that was it. I have never been to a circus before, so it’ll be an experience.”

Interrupting the conversation, Sokka sat in between Azula and Katara with the food on hand. 

“First Suki and now another girl. I swear I have some sort of special charm which attracts women.” Sokka said as he handed Azula her Fire Flakes

“No way. There is no way another girl talked to you in the three minutes you were gone.” Katara shook her head

“I swear! She came up to me and started talking. Apparently, she works here in the circus, and she told me I would see her doing something on the show.” 

“She’s a circus freak then. I think you could do better, but then again, you’re only a snow savage.” Azula shrugged, putting a Fire Flake on her mouth.

Sokka scoffed, “Say all the demeaning things you want, fact remains that I was able to pull _another_ girl.”

“Shut up” 

“Why, are you jealous?” Sokka teased the Fire Nation Princess

“I most certainly am not!” Azula said right back, earning a grin from Sokka and a chuckle from Katara. “What are you laughing at?!”

Katara straightened up and tried to conceal her laugh. “N-nothing Azula. Let’s just enjoy the show.”

Before Azula could reply, the circus ringmaster began to talk to the audience. He stated that his circus had beasts from all over the world, from the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom alike. 

The show was fun for only two people of the group. The water tribe siblings were in a trance with the majestic creatures the circus possessed and laughed out loud with the jokes the clown made. They hugged each other for comfort when a performer started to walk on the tightrope. Meanwhile both Azula and Zuko sat bored out of their minds. Every act done had been performed when they were little at the palace as part of the little _Fire Nation Culture Extravaganza_ their mother had subjected them to. It was true that they had never been to a circus before, but these acts were not impressive to the young royals. 

“For the final act ladies and gentlemen, we have the best acrobat in the world. A Fire Nation national from the capital city with skills from an Air Nomad. Give a round of applause for _The Human Dove_!” the ringmaster announced. 

Entering the stage was a teenage girl around Azula’s age with a long brown braid, a white top, an orange skirt/pant, and some sort of golden crown that was clearly meant as an accessory and not as a marker of her status. She had a round face and her eyes were grey, almost Air Nomad like. She wore a smile that seemed very hard to get rid of, but not impossible to do so. 

Azula stared at the performer in great surprise. She looked identical to her old friend Ty Lee, who she hadn’t seen in over five years. Her eyes were the same, her hairstyle was the same, the only thing that was missing was for the performer to open her mouth and start talking about auras. The resemblance was uncanny, but the Fire Nation princess could not figure out why the daughter of a nobleman was performing in a circus of all places. Surely a girl like Ty Lee would get multiple marriage proposals. 

“That’s her! She’s the one who talked to me when I was buying the food!” Sokka exclaimed as the performer started to do her acrobatics. 

Azula turned to the watertribesman, “Please, don’t flatter yourself. A girl like that would never look twice at you.”

“I’m not lying! She was calling me cutie!”

“You cannot be this dense peasant.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“It’s obvious that this girl was only calling you _cutie_ because you’re from the Water Tribes. To girls from the Fire Nation, you are cute in a way a turtleduck is cute.” Azula said with venom on her voice.

“I think Azula is jealous.” Zuko said from her side

“And I think that your face is asymmetrical Zuzu. Do you want me to make it equal?”

Zuko scoffed. “I think you’re bluffing. Azula always lies.”

“I could be. But then again, the stakes are high if I’m not.”

“That was _The Human Dove_! Thank you all for coming today, our last show before we head on to Shu Jing. It has been a true pleasure spending time showing you these great acts! We hope to see you again all next year!” the ringmaster announced, with many animals walking on the stage and dozens of circus freaks bowing down in appreciation to their audience. 

“Aw great, we missed the show because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!” Sokka exclaimed

Azula stood up. “It’s not my fault the girl had a quick routine. For being the supposedly best acrobat in the world, she wasn’t very good.”

“Where are you going?” Katara asked the Avatar, who was heading to the exit. Azula stopped and turned around with a small smile. 

“To congratulate the acrobat. Not everyone can make the savage so unbearable. I have to see her for myself.”

Azula kept walking, not looking back to the three teens she left behind. Her eyes were looking straight ahead, to the rest area where the performers were currently resting. She looked around to see if she could find the familiar braided girl, who for the first time since she had known her, was not wearing her signature pink. 

The princess spotted a slightly pinker tent among the rest. Deciding that this tent was her best bet, Azula strode towards it, her head not held as high as she usually would have it. It wasn’t hard to arrive to the tent, most of the other people were busy drinking or doing other unpleasant things. Once right outside the tent, the Avatar took a deep breath, preparing herself to what could possibly mean the continuation of her best friendship. 

She entered the tent and stood with her arms crossed. The acrobat was taking her fake-crown and earrings off in front of a mirror. 

“Ty Lee could that possibly be you?” Azula asked. 

The acrobat turned around quickly with wide eyes. She stood up and put her fist up in a defensive position. 

“Who are you and how do you know my name?”

“You mean you don’t recognize me? For Agni sake Ty Lee, I’ve kept the same bangs since I was little. My face is very similar to Zuko’s, even if his is now half melted off. It’s very sad you don’t recognize your best friend. And to think I actually proposed we get married one day…”

“A-a-azula?! B-but y-you’re dead! Are you a spirit?! Do spirits have auras?!”

Azula sighed and pinched her nose. “No, Ty Lee, I’m not dead. I would be if I hadn’t run away, but I was smart enough to do so. I hope you can forgive me for disappearing without trace, but it was simply for my survival.”

Ty Lee then stood up and, in one swift motion, embraced Azula in a great hug. Azula’s ribs felt like they were going to break, yet the Avatar didn’t mind. She was never a fan of hugs, but it had been so long since she had sincerely hugged someone that she just couldn’t help but embrace the acrobat. This was Ty Lee, _her_ Ty Lee. The one person who had always understood her and who made her she was not special because she was a princess, rather she was special because she was Azula.

“I missed you so much Zula. Where have you been?!” Ty Lee cried

“Well, for a while I roamed around the Earth Kingdom. Then I got bored so I stayed in an Air Temple. Then I went to the South Pole and recruited two peasants and took Zuzu prisoner, and now we’re on our way to the North Pole.”

They broke off the hug. Azula could see the red eyes Ty Lee had, evidence of the tears she had shed. 

“Why are you going to the North Pole? And why do you have Zuko prisoner?” 

Azula sighed. “Things have been very complicated, but I could say that one of the peasants is a waterbender, and because there are no more waterbenders in the South Pole thanks to my grandfather, then we’re finding a master for her to learn.”

Before Ty Lee could make any further questions, the tent flap opened and Sokka came rushing in. 

“Azula we need to go now! Katara waterbended and now the Fire Nation soldiers are after us!” Sokka yelled in panic

“Of course she did.” Azula muttered. “Well, Ty Lee, it has been great catching up, but I need to go now. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime in the future.”

“No, we are not separating again. I just found you again Zula!-”

“Technically, I found you” Azula interrupted 

“-and I’m not letting you go so easily. I’m coming with you and the cutie.”

“See! She called me cutie!” Sokka gloated, but was silenced by a glare from Azula

“Ty Lee, you’re in the circus. If you come with me, you’ll be a traitor to the Fire Nation.”

“Azula, the Fire Nation will always be where you are. Sozin’s blood courses through you, and if I decide to follow you, that doesn’t make me any less Fire Nation than I am now.” Ty Lee declared. “Besides, I was getting tired of the circus. My clothes were already in a bag just in case I wanted to run away, which I guess is happening now.”

The Fire Nation princess nodded her head. “Alright. Then grab your bag and follow me.”

The acrobat gave a big smile and ran towards a bag that laid lazily on the floor. She followed the Avatar, who exited the tent and followed the watertribesman. Sokka ran towards where Katara and Zuko stood, facing around fifteen Fire Nation soldiers. 

“Savage, peasant, Dum-dum, run and find Fudo! Ty Lee, follow them. I’ll deal with the soldiers right now.” Azula said as she glared down the soldiers. 

“I thought we were over the peasant and savage phase,” Katara said

“Well, if you keep acting so stupidly then I have no other choice. Now go and find Fudo, he’ll get us out of here. Under no circumstances should he be seen by the town. Remain in the forest. Now go!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Sokka yelled as he ran off. Katara and Zuko, on the other hand, remained in their defensive positions.

“Go _now_!” Azula yelled

“No! I am not leaving you to face these soldiers alone!” Katara yelled back. 

“Just grab Zuko and run away! Follow my orders or I will go away and let you handle the Fire Nation Army by yourself.” Azula said with finality

“Fine!” Katara grabbed Zuko’s wrist and began to run away. A firebender threw a flame at the girl, but Azula was quick to step in between them and disperse the flames. 

“A firebender! Traitor!” another soldier yelled

“Ah yes, how shameful: dying at the hands of a traitor. But don’t worry, I’m not planning on killing you. I’m just going to make your life a living hell.” Azula said as she made her palms hold her signature blue flames. 

The soldiers took a step back when they saw the blue fire. Nobody in the history of the Fire Nation was known to have been able to produce blue flames, and people always fear the unknown. 

“Come on. Don’t be cowards, I won’t bite…hard,” Azula grinned

One brave but stupid soldier took a firebending stance and opened fire on the princess, who simply evaded the fire and threw her own punch, making the soldier go down. After that initial demonstration, the soldiers opened fire on her at the same time, but Azula simply made a wall of fire, making the soldiers flame unite with hers. Then, Azula used the air to make flames grow even more and pushed it towards the soldiers. 

Some were able to evade it, but five of them were not so lucky and got severely burned. From her left, Azula felt a soldier run towards her with a flame dagger. Before he arrived though, the acrobat jumped forward and hit him on the shoulders and back, making the firebender fall instantly. 

“What was that?” Azula asked, momentarily surprised

“It’s called chi blocking, and it’s not the only surprise I have.” Ty Lee responded, smiling at the incoming soldiers. The soldiers opened fire and Ty Lee widened her stance, still light on her toes, and moved her hands around until the flames were very close. At that time, the acrobat simply brought her hands up and breathed. The red and orange flames were suddenly stopped by some sort of force. The soldiers stood paralyzed at the display, and Azula could only stare wide-eyed at her childhood friend. Taking the opportunity of the soldiers’ shock, Ty Lee ran forward and chi blocked the remaining firebenders.

Azula could not move. Her friend, who she had known since they were children, was an _airbender_. Was she the last of them? Was Azula now responsible from teaching her how to use airbending? After all, Azula _did_ learn all about the culture from a dead Air Nomad. Did her responsibility as the Avatar also include teaching others about a lost culture? After all, if Ty Lee had children one day, they could reinstate the Air Nomad civilization and the balance of the world may be achieved once again. Would that make Ty Lee a traitor? Most certainly. But it was required to find peace and balance in the world. 

“Come on Azula! We have to go!” Ty Lee grabbed the princess’s hand. This brought Azula back from her momentary over-analyzation of the situation. Or maybe not over-analyzation, but rather an adequate analyzation in the wrong time. 

“Follow me.” Azula said, running towards the woods. Ty Lee followed right behind the Avatar, carefully watching their surroundings to evade any soldiers following their trail. 

After ten minutes of running, the two girls came across the blue dragon and three teens sitting on top of it. Ty Lee’s jaw dropped at the sight of the giant blue flying reptile.

“T-that’s-is that a dragon?!” Ty Lee asked

Azula nodded and jumped on top of the dragon, motioning for Ty Lee to follow her with her hand. “Come on, we need to go.”

Using her airbending, the acrobat jumped on the dragon with great ease. She gave a small awkward smile to Zuko and waved at the two watertribe siblings. 

“Ty Lee hand on tight. The rest of you can do whatever you want.” Azula advised from the front of the saddle, grabbing Fudo’s reigns. The blue dragon took off without any need for a worded command, and the now group of five continued their journey to the North Pole.

There was an awkward silence on top of the saddle until Azula patted Fudo’s head, dropped the reigns, and turned to her four companions. 

“Everyone this is Ty Lee. She was my childhood best friend, so I suggest you treat her with respect. Ty Lee, this is Savage, Peasant, and you already knew Zuzu.”

“I’m Katara. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Katara extended her hand

Ty lee shook it. “Likewise”

“How did you jump that high?” Sokka asked without introducing himself

“That’s my brother Sokka,”

“Yeah yeah, but how did you jump that high?”

“Well, I guess since Azula trusts you all then I should too. I used airbending.” Ty Lee replied. 

The three teens stared at the acrobat with wide eyes, trying to comprehend what she had just said. 

“I think I heard wrong. Did you just say that you used _airbending_?!” Sokka asked

“Yes. I’m an airbender, but still Fire Nation.”

“Oh so that’s why you came with us!” Katara exclaimed

“What do you mean?” 

“So you could learn proper airbending.” 

Ty Lee furrowed her eyebrows. “Proper airbending? Why would I need to be with you guys to learn proper airbending?”

Instead of replying, Katara looked straight to Azula as if expecting an answer. Watching Katara do this, Ty Lee turned her head towards her friend, watching the princess with curious eyes. Soon after, the two boys also turned their eyes towards the Fire Nation princess. 

“Ty Lee, do you remember when I told you that I spent some years at an Air Temple?” Ty Lee nodded her head. “Well, I was actually there not because of commodity, but because I was earning about Air Nomad culture.”

“But how? The Air Nomads are dead.”

“Well yes, but I was contacted by one of my pasts lives. He taught me everything I needed to know to keep Air Nomad culture alive, which I need to do in order to restore the balance of the world.”

“That doesn’t sound like you Azula.” Ty Lee commented

“It doesn’t, but apparently I need to be a good person and bring peace to the four nations, because that’s what the Avatar should do.” Azula explained

Ty Lee widened her eyes and dropped her jaw for the third time within the hour. She looked at Azula and at her companions, trying to seek any sort of trace of a practical joke, but none was found. 

“So, you’re the Avatar…I guess that explains why you kidnapped Zuko.” Ty Lee finally said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating. I am literally dying with college work, but I really enjoy writing this. Sorry if it's not the best, but I was just so mentally tired that this was the best that could come out. Next chapter will be better, I promise. 
> 
> Hope you all liked Ty Lee!
> 
> As for Azula's pairing, I'm still not sure what to do. So please comment which ship you would want and I'll take it into consideration. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inside a cave, the stories behind the Fire Nation Royals arise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a really bad writers block on this story, so sorry if it's not my best work. and TW for Implied Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse/Rape
> 
> It's really implied, almost nothing. But I don't want anyone having any problems with what they read. Hence the TW.

The North Pole was only a week-ride away and Azula was on the verge of leaving her companions to rot on some cave. Soon after Ty Lee had joined them, her, Sokka, and Katara all got sick with a cold. It wasn’t anything that a hot soup and few days of rest couldn’t fix, but it was still tedious. And for some reason, her companions had become very needy. Zuko, despite being overall unlucky, had been spared the sickness. Still, it was three sick people being taken care of by a prince who didn’t know anything that wasn’t burn treatment, and a princess who only knew Air Nomad remedies, which wouldn’t help them being so far away from Air Temple flora.

They sat inside a small cave that Azula had found, with a small bonfire in the middle. The two Water Tribe siblings laid reclining against Fudo, many drops of sweat dropping from their foreheads. Ty Lee sat neat Azula, who was trying her best not to recoil from disgust. Ty Lee was her best friend and she truly cared for the young acrobat, but that did not mean that she wanted her to be near her while she was sick. The Avatar was going to take care of her, she didn’t mind that, but being close to her not only increased the chances of catching the disease, but it was also gross. And the princess, although not living in the palace for years, still maintained her status.

Zuko sat directly parallel to Azula, looking at the companions in disgust. After spending around a month with them and failing to find a good way to run away, the Fire Nation prince had accepted the idea of being part of Azula’s team. After all, being close to the team meant having insider knowledge which he could use to sabotage their mission and return home to his family.

“Zula,” Ty Lee groaned as she extended her arm towards her friend

Azula sighed, starting to get annoyed by the constant nagging of her best friend. “What is it now Ty Lee?”

“Come closer, I’m cold.”

“Just sit next to the fire. That’ll help with the problem.” Azula replied

The acrobat moved a little bit to sit closer to Azula despite the princess protest.

“Azula,” Katara said from Fudo’s side

“What is it now?” Azula groaned

“Water”

Rolling her eyes, Azula stood up and brought the water skin close to Katara and helped the waterbender drink the liquid.

“Azula,” Sokka asked from her side

“WHAT NOW!” Azula snapped, getting tired of everyone calling her for things they could do themselves.

“Can you tell us a story?”

“Ooh yes! Tell us a story Azula!” Ty Lee yelled, feeling a sudden rush of energy coursing through her veins.

“I want to listen to that too,” Katara added

“Ugh fine, but on one condition.” Azula grinned. “Zuko has to tell the story about how he got the scar. And with detail and context for our Water Tribe companions Zuzu.”

Zuko, whose mind had been elsewhere, turned his head towards the four teenagers. “No. I’m not doing that.”

“Come on Zuko, don’t be so pathetic. If you tell your tale, I’ll say why I disappeared without reason one day.” Azula bargained, earning wide eyes from all of her companions. “Don’t you want to know Zuzu? How one day your sister was no longer there to pester you every single day?”

Zuko closed his eyes to think. On the one hand, he would be exposing his shame for everyone, for his _sister_ , to do whatever they might with the information. The true circumstances were unknown to the Fire Nation public, and if he told the teenagers in the cave, then the enemies of the Fire Nation would know. But on the other hand, he truly wanted to know why Azula had disappeared one day without a trace. Had Azula not reappeared, there would be no doubts in what his father had told him. But this was not the case. His father had bluntly lied, and he deserved to know the truth.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko opened his eyes and stared at the campfire.

“It started when I tried to enter one of the war meetings father held on the palace. I was 13, so the guards didn’t let me pass through. But then Uncle Iroh came and helped me get in the meeting. It was going as well as it could, until one of the Generals proposed a plan to use one of the new recruit battalions as bait. They were new recruits, probably barely 18 years old, who were ready to give their lives for our nation, yet this General simply discarded them like trash. I was outraged!”

“The Fire Nation would do that to their own people?” Katara asked in disbelief

“Well yes, look at what happened to Zuko! Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Please continue brother.” Azula smiled

“As I was saying. After hearing that plan, I was feeling outraged, so I spoke up against the plan. Because of my insolence, father told me that I had to fight an Agni Kai.”

“What’s an Agni Kai?” Sokka asked

“It’s a traditional firebender duel that is centuries old which is used to fight for your honor. It ends when one opponent burns the other.” Azula replied her answer as if she were reading it from a textbook.

“So, the general burned your face and that’s how you got the scar. I have to say, I expected something more dramatic.” Sokka shrugged his shoulders

“That’s not the whole story. An Agni Kai shouldn’t result in such a severe burn. There’s something else to the story.” Azula said, looking at Zuko awaiting his confirmation.

Zuko stared at Azula and sighed. “Azula’s not wrong. I accepted the Agni Kai with honor and prepared myself to fight against the general. I was feeling confident honestly; I had just spoken up for my people and was fighting for their honor too. But then my opponent came into view and I stood frozen in place.”

“Why? Who was it?” Katara asked

“Could you let him finish the story?! It’s like talking to five-year olds.” Azula turned to face the siblings. “Agni…you may continue with the story.”

“I had been prepared to fight a general, but I was not ready to face the Fire Lord. He’s the most powerful firebender in the world, and I had to face him. But I couldn’t do it. I bowed down and begged for forgiveness. I told him that I only had the Fire Nation’s best interest at heart, and that I had meant no disrespect. He told me to fight, but I couldn’t.” Zuko had a few tears falling, and his breath was getting shorter. “He told me that I would learn respect, and that suffering would be my teacher. Then he brought a flame to his hand, and well, he burned my face. After that I was exiled, and can only go back home once I capture the Avatar”

Sokka and Katara sat with their eyes wide open, hearing the information that Zuko had just given them but unable to fully process it. They couldn’t believe a father would do that to their own son, and all for something so stupid.

Ty Lee also sat shocked. She had thought that the prince’s scar was because of a training accident. That had been the story told throughout the nation. But this…this made her sick to her stomach.

Azula, on the other hand, was not surprised by the story. She stared as Zuko shed a river of tears and smirked. It was amusing how weak her brother was. A lesson which was meant to make him strong had turned him into an angsty mediocre firebender.

“Stop crying Zuko, it’s not that big of a deal.” Azula waved her hand.

Zuko looked up and met Azula’s golden eyes, his face turning red in anger.

“Not that big a deal? NOT THAT BIG A DEAL?! My face is forever marked because of my father, and all I can do to restore my honor is bring YOU to the palace, which makes an impossible task even more impossible. But what can you know about father’s wrath. You were always perfect.” Zuko spat with great venom.

“Well yes, you’re right. I am perfect. And yes, I received praise when you didn’t. But that didn’t mean that I was loved by father. After all, I doubt a father would agree to kill his own daughter for the throne.” Azula said, looking straight at Zuko’s face

“What are you talking about” Zuko snarled

“I’m talking about my story. The why I disappeared one day. It’s because I was going to be killed by father.”

“You’re lying. Father would never do that to you.”

“Yes, because father is such a gentle soul full of love towards his family.” Azula said sarcastically. “It was the day when father asked an audience with grandfather. Remember? When I excelled at firebending and you acted like a fool? Well, as you may remember Zuko, I pulled you behind the curtains to hear what father really wanted. Of course, the only reason for our performances were to show grandfather what great heirs father had while Uncle Iroh had none, after Lu Ten fell in Ba Sing Se. As you may remember, after father asked to be Crown Prince, Fire Lord Azulon got extremely mad, and you ran away because you were a coward.

“But I stayed behind and listened. _‘You must know the pain of losing a first-born son, by sacrificing your own.’_ And I have to admit, I wasn’t that against the idea. After all, it would leave me as sole heir for the throne. Apparently, father also liked the idea, so he nodded without hesitation. But Fire Lord Azulon noticed this, so he changed the condition. He told father that I was to be the one sacrificed. And guess what father did?”

Azula stared at Zuko, who met her gaze without fully wanting to. He seemed very uncomfortable with the situation.

“He accepted.” Zuko finally said

“You’re not as stupid as you seem Dum-dum. Yes, he accepted grandfather’s proposition. I, of course, did not desire to be killed at such a young age. So, I packed a quick bag and ran out of the palace without any explanation. Then, I went to a port, stowed away on a ship, lived in inhuman conditions for about a week, fled to the Earth Kingdom, and spent some years there. After that, I arrived at the Southern Air Temple, where I found out that I was the Avatar and started learning Air Nomad culture and airbending. So that’s my story. Betrayed by my father, forgotten by my family, and discovering that I’m the most powerful bender in the whole world. Oh, and how could I forget, also finding out that I have to end this Agni forbidden war against my nation.” Azula laughed at the end.

Her companions all looked at her with pity, something that Azula didn’t like. She wasn’t weak. Her life had been hard, but only because she had to be ready for the challenges ahead. If she had been pampered from a young age, then she wouldn’t have been ready to take on the task of being the Avatar. But fate knew what it was doing when her grandfather assigned her father to kill her. It set the path to her destiny.

“Your dad…is not a great person, is he?” Sokka murmured, earning a slap in the arm from Katara.

“I didn’t know your life had been so rough Azula. If you need anything, please remember that we are a family.” Katara said

Azula rolled her eyes. “Yes, because family is _so_ important. Katara, let me put it this way. I only have three living family members: my father, my mother, and Zuko. My father wanted to kill me when I was nine years old. My mother thought I was a monster ever since I was a little child, so she didn’t spend as much time with me as she did with Zuko. She may have said that she loved me, but I could see the truth in her eyes. She was a good liar, but not a great one. I could see it, that every time she looked at me, she could only see my father in me. And then there’s Zuko, who I do not need to give an explanation onto why our relationship isn’t great. But I will say this. Zuko always whines about not having anyone, but he had uncle and mother all of his life. I only had father, and he spared no second thought when he had to kill me. I’ve been alone all my life, and it wouldn’t do me so bad to keep doing things like that.”

“You may have been alone for the vast majority of your life, but we won’t leave you alone Azula. You may be cold hearted and a bitch sometimes, but we still care about you and will never betray you. We will never run away from you.” Sokka expressed, security and sincerity flowing through his words.

“Of course you can’t run away, you’re sick! You would die a day after leaving.” Azula scoffed

“You know what I meant by it.”

Azula smiled for a second before turning to Ty Lee, who was looking straight at Zuko. The Fire Nation prince was also looking at the acrobat, as if they were sharing unsaid words. Azula’s smile turned to a frown as she noticed this.

“What are you two hiding?” Azula raised an eyebrow

“N-nothing Azula! Everything is in order.” Ty Lee stuttered

Azula furrowed her eyebrows. “Tell me the truth.”

“You have another living family member.” Zuko said

“What? Who?!” Azula asked. There couldn’t have been more than three family members. Uncle Iroh had died in the South Pole, and even if he didn’t, there was no way Ty Lee and Zuko both knew about this. Grandfather Azulon must have died in order for father to be Fire Lord, because although abdications were a real thing, there was no way that he would give up the power. And Lu Ten had died in Ba Sing Se, there was no question about it. So who could be the other family member? It didn’t make sense. Unless…

“Her name is Kiyi,” Zuko began to say. He looked straight at Azula, his face showing some sort of compassion. As if he was regretting knowing the information he was about to give her. “and she’s our sister.”

Azula took a deep breath before proceeding with the question. “How old is she?”

The Fire Prince hesitated a little before replying. “She’s four, turning five soon.”

Four turning five, which meant that her conception had been five years ago. Five years ago, around the same time Azula had fled the palace. That same year, her parents had created another child. _A daughter_. If Azula had any doubts of her parents love towards her, those doubts were now null. It was clear that there was no paternal love in her family. Once they had thought of her dead, or at the very least gone forever, her parents simply decided to have another child. A replacement.

“Of course she is,” Azula laughed as her companions looked at her worryingly. Ty Lee, being the closest one to her, tried to put a hand on the princess’ shoulder, only for Azula to slap it away. “Don’t touch me.”

Before anyone could stop her, Azula stood up and ran out of the cave, not caring if she couldn’t make sense of her surroundings. With each step came a new memory. Her first time firebending, father saying he was proud of her, mother feeding the turtleducks with Zuko while she was forced to train, her mother reprimanding her for putting some ugly flowers on fire, Iroh gifting her a stupid doll and Zuko a pearl knife.

Little things like that became more hurtful memories. Like the time when she had caught Fire Flu and had a deadly fever, but only servants and doctors were by her side. She had asked for her mother multiple times, but she was never available, only to find out later that she had been beside Zuko, who had scraped his knee. Or the time when her father had whipped her with fire after failing to do a kata perfectly. Another time when she had been awoken in the middle of the night because her father wanted to teach her a lesson about love, and how love would lead to weakness, and that weakness would hurt her even worse than he had done that night. And the time when she had overheard her mother talking to Uncle Iroh about her, calling her a monster and an abomination because she had supposedly lied about the stuff her father did to her behind closed doors.

Azula didn’t notice that she had ran all the way to a beach until the waves started to move with her movements. She looked around to see if anyone had followed her, but nobody had. She was alone in the middle of the beach during a normal night, just as she had truly been alone all her life. And her future seemed to be going in the same path. She had to perform patricide, fight against her nation, and bring peace to the whole world on her own. Sure, she had companions, but she couldn’t fully trust them. And even if she could, she knew that trust was the farthest relationship they were ever going to get.

Love was simply not on her destiny. Past avatars may have had romantic relationships, but they had always had someone to love them when they were little. Perhaps not parents, but there was always some sort of figure who helped them. Azula had nobody and would remain with nobody. This beach was a representation of that.

Hyperventilating, the Avatar screamed loudly as she sobbed. Fire came out of her mouth, thankfully not setting anything on fire. Azula’s heart ached so much that she thought she was going to die.

“We had hoped that you wouldn’t remember that.” A woman voice said.

Azula turned around to face the woman who had suddenly made an appearance. An old Water Tribe woman, with a purple coat and two braids, stood in front. Her hair was a grey due to her age, and her eyes were sea blue, making her origins even more obvious. She was very old, probably around 80 years old, yet she kept a perfect posture.

“Who are you?” Azula asked

The woman stepped closer to Azula and put on a comfortably warm smile.

“My name is Akna, and I was the Water Tribe Avatar before you.”

“You…why didn’t you stop the war?! Why do I have to do it?!” Azula yelled, her mind running circles.

“The Northern Tribe does not look up to women waterbenders.” Akna said with sadness.

Azula scoffed. “So, what, you just gave up? It was your duty as an Avatar to bring peace to the four nations and you failed because your culture didn’t let you? You’re the worst Avatar ever!”

“I know that you’re hurt now Azula, and you’re probably right in what you said, but you need to calm down. Lashing out to everyone will not solve anything.”

“Why are you even here?” the princess murmured.

Akna stepped forward until she was face to face with the princess of the Fire Nation. From up-close, Azula could see the numerous wrinkles in her eyes and face, the type of wrinkles a person constantly frowning would get.

“You called me here.”

Azula laughed. “Great, now even my unconscious mind is dialing up people without my consent.”

“It is when we feel at our lowest when we learn the truth about ourselves.”

“I’m not interested in a lengthy lecture.”

Akna frowned. “Azula, please listen to me. I know you have been hurt, but you should be able to see the light in the darkness. You may feel as if you’re alone, but deep inside you know that’s not the truth. Up on that cave are your friends, some of whom are sick and need you there to tend to their care. The siblings consider you their friends, and we all know that airbender also does. Your brother, even if he doesn’t show it, does care about you. Just give him time for him to come to his senses.”

“I just,” Azula sat down on the ground facing the water. “I feel so _betrayed_. Sure, my father wanted to kill me, and my mother never liked me. But, there was always some small part deep inside me wishing that was not true. I wished that was just some story I made up for myself, and that one day I could be proven wrong for the first time in my life. But, as always, it turns out I was right. The first instance I was gone, they replace me.”

“Every once in a while, we come upon a harsh truth. It is when that harsh truth is unveiled, that the path for the beautiful reality is opened.”

“That sounded really boring and stupid.”

“It’s time for me to take my leave. Remember Azula, you are never truly alone.” Akna said before disappearing in the air.

The Princess of the Fire Nation blinked a couple of time, trying to calm herself down from everything. The salt from the sea entered her nostrils and her lungs filled with clean air. Those memories that had been locked away in her brain now roamed reign free in her mind. It hurt, a lot. But they still gave her even more motive to continue on her journey.

If what Akna said was true, she had the Katara, Sokka, Ty Lee, and Zuko by her side. It was a big group, at least bigger than she was used to. If they thought of her as their friend, then maybe one day they could love her. It didn’t need to be romantic love, she just wanted to be loved my someone. Anyone really.

Once she had fully calmed down, Azula stood up and walked up the hill towards to where the cave was at.

Inside the cave, the Water Tribe siblings laid sleeping on Fudo’s side, and Ty Lee was sleeping close to the fire. Zuko was sitting down in front of the fire, looking intensely at it.

The prince turned his face towards Azula. “Where have you been?”

“The beach. Avatar stuff are exhausting.” Azula replied, getting closer to the siblings and pulling their sleeping bags so that they would be better covered. Then, she grabbed a piece of her clothing and laid it on Ty Lee so that the airbender wouldn’t feel so cold.

“Don’t you dare tell them anything.” Azul threatened Zuko as she sat down in front of the fire, but closer to Zuko than she had been before.

“I won’t.” Zuko gave a worried look. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“I am. Why? Are you worried?”

Zuko scoffed. “No. Ty Lee and the Water peasants were just asking about you, so I thought I should need to know.”

“Right.” Azula smiled lightly. “How is she?”

Zuko knew who his sister was referring to. “I haven’t seen her in three years, but she was really sweet when she was a baby. She also called me Zuzu.”

“Then she also has a functioning brain.” Azula laughed.

“Why are you so mean?” Zuko grumbled

“I’m not mean. I just have good humor because of trauma.”

The prince grinned. “Then I’m also funny.”

“Oh, no. You also need to be smart to be truly funny. I don’t make the rules.”

“Hey!” Zuko yelled as Azula chuckled. The scarred prince also smiled, feeling like he was having a real sibling relationship after they both opened up about their horrible experiences with their dad.

“I don’t get why you want to return to him. You know that he sent you on a fool’s errand, don’t you? The Avatar is supposed to be dead, so he basically sent you to live the rest of your life outside of the Fire Nation.” Azula said once she stopped laughing.

Zuko starred at the fire. It reminded him of the flame his fire help in front of him as he burned his left eye.

“I just want to go home and have my honor back.”

“Father is the most dishonorable man in existence. If he said you don’t have honor, then that just means that you have too much honor. You don’t need to search for something you already have. As for returning home, you have a better chance of returning home after the war than before.” Azula said

“What do you mean?”

Azula didn’t look at Zuko. What she was going to ask felt too personal, and if she saw Zuko as she said it, she would be too vulnerable.

“I want you to join me. You’re already with us, but if you join me you could actually be useful. You’ll return home with honor, and then later be Fire Lord.”

Zuko pondered.

“I’ll think about it.” He finally said after a few minutes of silence.

Azula nodded. “Good. And Zuko…I’m glad I kidnapped you.”

Zuko smiled a little. “I’m glad too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Avatar Azula and runaway Azula? Yes please!
> 
> I really like the concept of Avatar Azula, because she is not a good person. Yes, her drive might be for the common good in this universe, but she is still Azula.


End file.
